Navalny’s Funeral to Be Held on Friday, Spokeswoman Says

Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, will be buried on Friday after a funeral service in Moscow that will be open to the public, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday, setting up the possibility of a rare display of opposition sentiment in the Russian capital.

“Come early,” the spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, wrote on social media. But mourners will still be taking a risk by attending. Hundreds of people who turned out across Russia at spontaneous memorials for Mr. Navalny after his death were detained, according to OVD-Info, a Russian-based rights group that tracks arrests.

Ever since the Russian authorities reported Mr. Navalny’s death, on Feb. 16, his associates have said that the Kremlin has tried to prevent a funeral for him in Moscow that could draw thousands of mourners and become a flashpoint for dissent. At one point, his team says, the authorities in the Arctic region where Mr. Navalny died in a penal colony threatened to bury him on the prison grounds if his mother did not agree to a private funeral. The Kremlin has denied being involved in any such discussions.

Mr. Navalny’s supporters and family appear to have prevailed about the funeral service, at least in part, but the authorities still seem to have succeeded in preventing a public wake for him.