Russians Chant ‘Ukrainians Are Good People’ at Navalny Funeral

In what likely came as a surprise to many Ukrainians, Russians at the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny spontaneously started chanting “Ukrainians are good people.”

Ukrainian economist and former economics minister Tymofiy Mylovanov posted a video of the crowd chanting the words on “X” (formerly Twitter).

“Russian chant ‘Ukrainians are good people’ at Navalny funeral. That’s shocking for me. But it should be shocking for Putin,” Mylovanov wrote.

Thousands of mourners had gathered near a church in southern Moscow on March 1 for Navalny’s funeral.

Navalny died in an Arctic prison. His supporters accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of murdering his top critic. The Kremlin has denied involvement in Navalny’s death and warned against “unauthorized” protests at the funeral.

While Navalny was a harsh critic of Putin, many Ukrainians are lukewarm or ambivalent toward the anti-corruption leader, who had said that illegally annexed Crimea would remain a part of Russia.

That said, in a meeting with the European Parliament on Feb. 28, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya spoke harshly against Putin, both for the death of her husband and for its invasion of Ukraine calling it a “brutal and sneaky war” against “a neighboring peaceful country.”