Alexei Navalny's Funeral Underway at Moscow Church, Amidst Heavy Police Presence

The funeral procession for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is currently underway in Moscow.

The New York Times reported that hours before the start of the funeral service at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows in southern Moscow, the family of the late Kremlin critic had yet to receive his body from a Moscow morgue.

Navalny's corpse has since been handed over to his family at around 12:30 local time, with the service currently in progress, the New York Times reported.

(Photo: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Planning for the service was taking place under pressure from the Russian authorities, who have arrested hundreds of mourners at memorial sites since Navalny's death. Police presence was also heavy around the church.

Images on social media showed attendees lining up, but also security cameras that the local news media reported had been recently installed, and signs forbidding mourners to take pictures or video in the church.

Navalnaya Blames Kremlin for Denying Husband's Body

Meanwhile, Navalny's wife and his associates blamed the Kremlin for allegedly coercing local undertakers to deny his family and supporters inside Russia to transport his corpse to the church.

"Two people are to blame for the fact that we do not have a place for a civil memorial service and farewell to Alexei - [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and [Moscow Mayor] Sergei Sobyanin," Yulia Navalnaya wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "People in the Kremlin killed him, then they mocked Alexei's body, then they mocked his mother, and now they mock his memory. We don't want any special treatment - just to give people the opportunity to say goodbye to Alexey normally."

Navalny was reported to have died earlier this month while he was serving multiple sentences in prison.

The Kremlin has rejected the family's accusations of its involvement, and Putin has not commented publicly on Navalny's death. But the Russian leader authorized an order promoting the deputy director of the country's Federal Penitentiary Service, Valery Boyarinev, just three days after Navalny's death.

Navalny's funeral takes place during a period of intense crackdown and less than three weeks before Putin seeks another six-year term in elections scheduled for mid-March, which he is projected to win.