Image source, Getty Images

We're wrapping up our live coverage for the day, thank you for joining us. Here's a summary of what's been happening today:

• Alexei Navalny's widow has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and wanting to "kill our hope, our freedom, our future"
• In a video statement, Yulia Navalnaya vowed to continue his work to fight for a "free Russia" before she met European ministers in Brussels
• She also said she knows "exactly why" Putin killed her husband three days ago, and will release the information soon
• Russian authorities continue to block access to the body of Alexei Navalny as they plan to carry out tests for two more weeks, his spokeswoman said

• The EU said it "will spare no efforts to hold Russia's political leadership and authorities to account" over the death of Navalny. It also called for an independent international investigation

• A UK foreign minister called for his body to be released, adding that Vladimir Putin "feared speak his name"
• President Joe Biden said the US is considering imposing further sanctions on Russia over Navalny

Read more about these latest developments here.

Today's live coverage was brought to you by Malu Cursino, Ece Goksedef, Esme Stallard, Thomas Mackintosh and George Wright. It was edited by Andrew Humphrey and Alex Kleiderman.

UK foreign minister Leo Docherty has given a statement to the House of Commons on Navalny's death, expressing the government's condolences to his family as well as praising his "iron will".

"He was an inspiration to millions. The Russian authorities saw him as a threat. Putin even feared speak his name," he said.

He agreed with fellow Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who chairs the foreign affairs' committee, that the government considered Navalny's death murder.

He also called for the release of Navalny's body which is still being held by Russian authorities.

But he was unable to confirm to his Labour counterpart John Healey whether the government would impose further sanctions on Russia.

In an earlier debate about the UK's military support for Ukraine, Healey had said that Navalny's death shows the importance of standing up to Russia.

The UK already has a number of sanctions against Russia, which were imposed following Navalny's poisoning in 2020 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine 18 months later.

The UK does not currently import Russian oil and gas, has frozen the assets of major Russian banks and political figures, and banned Russian firms from borrowing money.

You can read more about these sanctions and their impact on the Russian economy here.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Alexei Navalny's widow has released a video calling on supporters to stand with her, while accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and wanting to "kill our hope, our freedom, our future".

But what do we know about Yulia Navalnaya - and what does this video tell us about her political ambitions?

The BBC's Eastern Europe Correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, has this analysis in our latest 5 Minutes On podcast.

The What in the World programme on the World Service has also been taking a look at who the opposition is in Russia after the death of Alexei Navalny.

Image source, Getty Images

The EU foreign affairs chief has just been speaking in Brussels following the ministers' meeting with Alexi Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya.

“Navalny was murdered in a Russian jail by Putin’s regime,” Josep Borrell told reporters.

He said that they shared “Navalnaya’s insight about the level of oppression in Putin’s regime and insight about the ordeal of her husband.”

He said "Putin removed him from freedom as a dangerous symbol".

Borrell expressed support for Russians who wanted to pay tribute to Navalny in Russia despite the risks.

The European Union has just released a statement , externalon Alexei Navalny’s death - and called for an international investigation into the circumstances.

It says the bloc is “outraged" by the death of the opposition politician, adding "ultimate responsibility lies with President Putin and the Russian authorities"..

The statement calls for an independent and transparent international investigation into circumstances of his sudden death. “The EU will spare no efforts to hold Russia’s political leadership and authorities to account, in close coordination with our partners; and impose further costs for their actions, including through sanctions."

It also calls for an immediate release of the several hundred people who have been detained while paying tribute to Navalny in Russia.

Russian authorities continue to block access to the body of Alexei Navalny as they plan to carry out tests for two more weeks, his spokeswoman says.

Kira Yarmysh posted on social media that "investigators have told Alexei's lawyers and mother that they will not hand over the body".

"Some sort of 'chemical examination" will be carried out on him for another 14 days, she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Yarmysh has previously said that Navalny's mother and lawyers have been denied entry to a morgue where they had been told his body was being kept.

Image source, Reuters

US President Joe Biden said the US is considering imposing further sanctions on Russia, following the death of Alexi Navalny.

Speaking to journalists in Washington, Biden also said that he is willing to meet with House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson to discuss a funding bill for Ukraine's war against Russia.

The $95 million aid package for Ukraine, which was passed in the Senate earlier this month, has not yet come up for a vote in the House, which Republicans control.

Johnson has been demanding a meeting with Biden.

Republicans are making a big mistake by "walking away from the threat of Russia," said Biden, adding he hoped that the death of Navalny will spur Republicans to support the aid for Ukraine.

Image source, Getty Images

Just joining us or need a re-cap? Here's what's been happening today:

• Alexei Navalny's widow has vowed to continue his work to fight for a "free Russia" as she met European ministers in Brussels
• "Another person should be here in my place. But that person was killed by Vladimir Putin," Yulia Navalnaya said in a video statement
• She said she knows "exactly why" Putin killed Alexei three days ago, and will release the information soon
• We are soon expecting to hear from EU foreign ministers following their meeting with Navalnaya
• Representatives said Navalny's mother and lawyers had been blocked from entering a mortuary where they had been told his body could be
• President Joe Biden says the US is "considering additional sanctions" on Moscow after the death of Navalny
• Donald Trump has broken his silence on the death, relating the Russian's imprisonment to his own legal trials in the US, which he believes to be politically motivated. He did not mention President Putin in his response

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

There is no formal, organised opposition in Russia anymore. Over almost a quarter of a century in power, Vladimir Putin has systematically stamped it out. He does not allow space for any genuine challengers.

There are political parties in parliament, but all they do is support Putin.

Outside that, independent voices, organisations and political movements – even journalists – have been labelled "foreign agents", "undesirable" or "extremist", in recent years. They have been criminalised.

Real opposition is painted as subversive, linked to foreign intelligence organisations.

Individuals who’ve risen to prominence with Putin in power are now in enforced exile, like Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Boris Nemtsov, whose political roots went back to the first days of Russian democracy, was shot and killed in 2015, right beside the Kremlin.

Vladimir Kara-Murza was poisoned and imprisoned.

Dissent is dangerous: that’s the moral of the tale of Russia’s opposition. It’s also the conclusion the Kremlin wants people to reach, so they give up.

Alexei Navalny was different, and threatening, not just for his courage and conviction. It was also his nationwide political network: the headquarters that worked on his anti-corruption agenda and could rally crowds in protest, until they were all banned as extremist.

Not everyone in opposition liked Navalny’s politics.

Some liberals couldn’t forget the nationalist views he’d voiced in the past. Others thought him too confrontational for anyone’s good and didn’t like him calling young people to protests where they were sure to be arrested.

There was also rivalry, for sure.

But his political organisation lasted the longest, against all the odds.

Image source, EPA

Alexei Navalny long knew that his life was under threat.

On 20 August 2020, he boarded a flight bound for Moscow from Siberia. But the plane never arrived at its final destination, as the opposition leader collapsed after being poisoned with Novichok nerve agent.

The flight stopped at the Siberian city of Omsk and he was quickly airlifted to hospital in Berlin. The then-44-year-old remained in a coma for two weeks. Thanks to the rapid response from cabin crew and medics, he would go on to survive that nearly fatal attempt on his life.

The Kremlin has long denied any involvement in Navalny's poisoning, but the anti-corruption activist said at the time that he believed "Putin is behind this act" and he saw no other explanation.

Only a few months after recovering from the incident, Navalny flew straight back to Russia. Why do this if he suspected Putin and his allies were trying to kill him?

Well, as our Eastern European correspondent Sarah Rainsford explained at the weekend Navalny remained defiant and hopeful that Putin's rule would one day end.

People have continued to leave flowers for Alexei Navalny despite authorities forcibly removing supporters from areas where tributes were being given last week.

These photos from St Petersburg show people laying flowers, before they are swiftly taken down.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Twitter/JosepBorrellF

Some more from Brussels now after Yulia Navalnaya met the foreign ministers of the European Union.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has pledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held to account for Alexei Navalny’s death.

"We expressed the EU's deepest condolences to Yulia Navalnaya. Vladimir Putin and his regime will be held accountable for the death of Alexei Navalny," Borrell wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“As Yulia said, Putin is not Russia. Russia is not Putin. We will continue our support to Russia’s civil society and independent media,” he added.

Image source, Getty Images

Some news to bring you from the UK where Rishi Sunak is expected to hold a cabinet meeting this afternoon - bringing it forward from its usual Tuesday morning slot.

After paying tribute to Alexei Navalny on Monday, the prime minister's official spokesman told reporters: "It is very clear that the Russian authorities saw him as a threat and that is why they imprisoned him on fabricated charges."

The spokesman added Navalny's death "must be investigated fully".

He said Foreign Office minister Leo Docherty will make a statement later in the House of Commons about Navalny's death.

Image source, EPA

We've just heard the first statement about Navalny's death from former US President Donald Trump. He appeared to relate Navalny's imprisonment to his own legal trials in the US, which he believes to be politically motivated. He did not mention President Putin in his response.

But with relations between the US and Russia frosty at the minute, current President Joe Biden did not hold back in placing blame for Alexei Navalny's death on Putin.

Here's what he and some other key figures in the US administration have said:

• Joe Biden: "We don't know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did... God bless Alexei Navalny, his courage will not be forgotten."
• Kamala Harris: "My prayers are with his family, including his wife Yulia... Whatever story they tell, let us be clear: Russia is responsible."
• Anthony Blinken: "The death of Alexei Navalny... was a reminder of the extraordinary brutality of Putin and his government against Russians in Russia, anyone who opposes him, and Russia's neighbours."

Image source, EPA

We’re now hearing the first comments from Donald Trump, arriving days after his rival on the Republican ticket, Nikki Haley, used strong words to condemn Navalny’s death and directly call out Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country," the former US president wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

"It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction,” he wrote, before blaming the country’s border policies, “rigged elections” and “grossly” unfair courtroom decisions for “destroying America”.

Nikki Haley, Trump’s only remaining rival in the GOP presidential race, struck a different chord in her statement last week.

She put the blame for Navalny’s death squarely at Putin’s feet and took the opportunity to highlight her opponent’s tendency to flatter and defend the Russian leader instead of challenging him.

Maria Malysheva, the coordinator of the Free Navalny campaign in the UK, believes Alexei Navalny cannot be replaced. But she vows his supporters will try to "continue his fight".

"Alexei is irreplaceable," she tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

Malysheva adds there "is no huge protest in Russia, but people are bringing photos, flowers and candles to the memorials to pay tribute".

She goes on to highlight the arrest of about 400 people - around half in her home city of St Petersburg - saying it is "terrible people are not allowed to express their mourning and grief".

"It is quite hard to expect a protest because the members of the Navalny team are probably not willing to inspire protests knowing how dangerous it can be in Russia.

"They are risking a really long prison term."

Image source, EPA

As we have been reporting, Yulia Navalnaya's has released a video statement where she pledges to continue her husband's political fight, and calling on Russians to join her vision of a "free Russia".

You can now watch it here with an English translation.

Yulia Navalnaya's deliberate and dramatic step into the political spotlightpublished at 13:32 Greenwich Mean Time 19 February

13:32 GMT 19 February

Sarah Rainsford
Eastern Europe Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Yulia Navalnaya has taken a deliberate and dramatic step into the political spotlight occupied for years by her husband.

Her video has the stark look of those made by Alexei Navalny - with the same passion and power.

Navalny’s widow accuses Vladimir Putin directly, of killing him in prison - and she claims authorities are hiding his body - to cover their traces.

And she says he’s killed half of her.

But, she calls on Russians not to give in, to unite, beside her, to continue her husband’s political fight for change in Russia - so what she calls his "unthinkable sacrifice" will not have been for nothing.

The Kremlin was asked today about the death of Putin’s biggest political rival and said only an investigation was under way. In fact, it’s just been extended.

In the video - Yulia’s voice cracks a little when she talks of the grief and pain that now envelop her. But she is also furious, accusing Putin of killing Russia’s hope, its freedom and future.

Image source, EPA

As we reported earlier, Yulia Navalnaya is in Brussels where she is joining the Foreign Affairs Council of EU officials.

We've just received pictures of her shaking hands with European Council President Charles Michel, before heading into a closed-door meeting.

Also in the meeting is Maria Pevchikh, a Russian journalist and prominent anti-corruption campaigner who worked with Alexei Navalny.

We'll bring you any details on what is said as we get it.

Image source, Getty Images

Good afternoon. If you're just joining us, or are in need of a catch-up, here's a look at some of the main headlines following the news of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death in a penal colony on Friday.

• Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's wife, accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and wanting to "kill our hope, our freedom, our future"

• In a video statement, Navalnaya vowed to continue her husband's work and called on those watching not to be afraid. "What we need is a free, peaceful and happy Russia... The country Alexei Navalny imagined"
• Navalny's mother says she was blocked from seeing her son's body at a mortuary
• Russian authorities say the investigation into the death has been extended - with the cause remaining "unknown"

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Western leaders of making "obnoxious statements" about President Putin's responsibility for Navalny's death
• Asked about Putin's reaction to news of Navalny's death, the spokesman said: "I have nothing to add"
• EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says members of the bloc must send a "message of support" to the Russian opposition, and proposed the EU rename its human rights sanctions regime in Navalny's name