Alexei Navalny's wife, Yulia, has shared her final message to her husband with the world. The grieving widow was unable to attend Navalny's funeral for fear of being arrested. She has pledged to continue his work and she took to X to share a video accompanied by her poignant words.

For a woman at the very center of one of the biggest democratic struggles in modern times, who now holds the weight of Navalny's opposition progress on her shoulders, her message contains not even a single mention of politics or war - just love.

Her post, addressed to Lyosha, a nickname for Alexei, reads: 'Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness. Yulia could not attend the funeral as she would have been a prime target to be arrested. She has taken over as the new opposition leader, following her husband's death. A life in the political limelight is said to be a big shift for Yulia, who once told Russia's Harper's Bazaar that her 'key task' was caring for the couple's children and home.

On Wednesday she addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, shortly after Navalny's aides announced they had arranged his funeral after spending more than a week trying to retrieve his body and find a suitable venue. She said: 'I thought that in the 12 days since Alexey's murder, I would have time to prepare for this speech. But first we spent a week getting Alexey's body and organizing his funeral. Then I chose the cemetery and coffin.

'I'm not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or whether police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband.' In her speech to the European Parliament, she spoke of what her husband went through and what her intentions are for Russia. She said: 'He was starved in a tiny stone cell cut off form the outside world and denied visits phone calls and then even letters and then they killed him.

'Even after that they abused his body and abused his mother. 'He was the opposite of everything boring. 'This is the answer to the question - if you really want to defeat Putin you have to become an innovator; you have to stop being boring. Putin must answer for what he has done with my country. Putin must answer for what he has done to a neighboring, peaceful country.

And Putin must answer for everything he has done to Alexei. 'My husband will never see what a beautiful Russia of the future will look like - but we must see it. 'And I will do my best to make his dream come true. 'The evil will fall and the beautiful future will come.' Navalny's funeral saw thousands of supporters turn up despite clear advice to refrain and anti-Putin chants could be heard in the crowds, breaking Russian law.

Many shouted 'Putin is a killer'. There was a very heavy police presence as was to be expected. The attendee details were not known, but the French, German and US ambassadors were in the crowd, as were some of Russia's last free independent politicians. Navalny's team had accused Putin of murdering his top critic, and of obstructing their efforts to give the dissident a dignified send off - saying several funeral parlors and hearse companies had.

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