Navalny Dies Of Natural Causes, Head Of Russian Intelligence Says West Reaction Is Excessive

JAKARTA - Russia's intelligence chief said Russia's opposition leader Alexei Navalny for natural reasons criticized the Western overreaction as disgusting.

The statement by the Head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin was seen as a Kremlin effort to ease international anger over the death of President Vladimir Putin's arch-enemy.

Speaking in a television interview, Naryshkin did not mention Navalny's death in a remote penal colony in the Arctic or provided other details.

"Sooner or later life ends and people die," said Naryshkin, quoted from Politico on March 6.

"Navalny died of natural causes," he continued.

Naryshkin further said he considered the West's overreaction to Navalny's death a disgusting thing.

"Of course it is quite disgusting when the devil dance is performed in the West around Navalny's coffin," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"It's immoral, low and unethical. What else can be said? It's really predictable," he criticized.

Navalny died on February 16 at Penal Colony No. 3 in Kharp City, Yamalo-Nenets Region, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow where he served a 19-year sentence on extremism charges.

Russian authorities have yet to announce the cause of death at the age of 47, while many Western leaders blame President Putin, a charge the Kremlin has firmly denied.

Meanwhile, Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, has spent eight days asking the authorities to release her son's body because officials stated that they needed to do a post-mortem test. He made a video request to Putin to allow him to bury his son in dignity.

Navalny was buried Friday on the outskirts of Moscow in a funeral that attracted thousands of mourners, amid the presence of many police. Navalny's team said several churches in Moscow refused to hold funerals.