Alexei Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya lays flowers for her son

The mother of Alexei Navalny laid flowers for her son as she made a direct appeal to Vladimir Putin to release his body.

Lyudmila Navalnaya, 69, was seen laying a bouquet of white flowers next to a picture of her son.

In a recorded video message on Tuesday (20 February), Ms Navalnaya said: “I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin, because the solution to this problem depends only on you.”

The Russian authorities have said they will not return Mr Navalny’s body for roughly two weeks while they continue investigating his death.