Despite a heavy presence of security forces, hundreds of people gathered in Moscow on Friday before the funeral of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died two weeks ago in an Arctic prison.
At the church dedicated to the "Assuage My Sorrows" icon of the Mother of God in the city's south-eastern Marino district, mourners carrying flowers crowded around metal bars to bid farewell to the opposition leader.
A funeral service is scheduled for 2 pm (1100 GMT) at the church, while the burial is planned for two hours later at the Borisov cemetery, about 30 minutes walk away.
Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said that the family and organizers had for unknown reasons received his body later than expected from the morgue, meaning the funeral service and burial could be delayed.
Dozens of emergency vehicles with uniformed personnel took up position from the early morning. Police also erected metal fences over a wide area ahead of the event.
Officers checked documents and personal belongings of passers-by and mobile internet services were reportedly shut down in the area. A notice was also reportedly posted at the church asking people not to film or take photographs.
Navalny's team on Thursday called on people to attend the funeral service and burial despite the expected police presence. Everyone to whom Navalny's political work meant something should attend, his spokeswoman said.
In recent days, police arrested hundreds of people laying flowers in Navalny's memory at locations across the country.
The heightened security measures indicated that even after his death, Navalny, a main challenger to President Vladimir Putin in recent years, remains a major cause of concern for the authorities.
Navalny's supporters, relatives and human rights activists accuse Putin of ordering the killing of the opposition leader. The Kremlin rejects this, while continuing preparations for elections on March 15-17 that are expected to install Putin for a fifth term.
Navalny's team plans to follow the funeral live on the internet. The German ambassador to Russia, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, will also be present, dpa was informed.
Friends of Navalny also called on people in Russia and abroad to express their support on Friday.
"Come and accompany Alexei Navalny on his last journey if you are in Moscow. All those who cannot be there for various reasons will thank you," opposition activist Leonid Volkov wrote on Telegram. Volkov lives in exile and was a close confidant of Navalny.
According to the authorities, Navalny died on February 16 in a prison camp in the Yamal-Nenets region, 1,900 kilometres north-east of Moscow, at the age of 47. The circumstances of his death have not been clarified.
The politician, weakened by an earlier poison attack and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, is said to have collapsed in the icy prison yard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him.
According to Navalny's team, the death certificate states that the cause of death was "natural." Navalny's mother said that she had repeatedly resisted Kremlin plans to have him buried in secret.