The Moscow authorities refused to coordinate the event in memory of the murdered oppositionists Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny under the pretext of Covid restrictions. One of the organizers of the event, journalist Ekaterina Duntsova, reported this on her Telegram channel.
“The authorities refused to approve a march in memory of politicians Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny on March 2. The refusal is explained by the COVID epidemic. The epidemic bypasses concerts in Luzhniki and other pro-government actions, they can,” Duntsova wrote.
A few days after Navalny’s murder in the colony in Kharp, Duntsova, representatives of the Civil Initiative party, as well as Boris Nemtsov’s associates Konstantin Merzlikin and Mikhail Shneider submitted an application to the Moscow mayor’s office to hold a march in memory of politicians. According to the organizers, the procession was to take place on March 2 from 13:00 to 16:00. Its route is from Strastnoy Boulevard to Sakharov Avenue.
Marches in memory of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead on February 27, 2015 near the Kremlin walls, were held in the capital every year before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The last march, on February 29, 2020, was attended by more than 20 thousand people, among them Alexei Navalny.