The Russian ambassador to Croatia was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday regarding the "unexplained circumstances of the death" of Alexei Navalny in custody, but the meeting was attended by an embassy employee due to the ambassador's "health reasons", the MVEP said.

The leader of the Russian opposition and the leading critic of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, died last Friday in the Polar Wolf penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 kilometres northeast of Moscow, where he was serving a 30-year prison sentence.

Western countries are calling for a transparent investigation into the cause of his death, and some world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, directly accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of Navalny’s death.

A number of European countries, including Germany, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Italy and the Baltic countries, as well as the EU, have already summoned Russian ambassadors or chargé d’affaires for an interview regarding this case.

Today, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs did the same.

The Russian ambassador was summoned to the ministry for a meeting. Due to the impossibility of coming for health reasons, the meeting was attended by an employee of the Russian Embassy. The interlocutor was given a request to establish the facts surrounding the death of Alexei Navalny, as well as to allow the family members to take over the remains without delay, the ministry said.

It added that at the meeting it had also called for the release of opposition activists, journalists and anti-war activists, and that it was pointed out that the political process against Navalny and other critics of the Russian government, as well as the inhuman conditions of detention, show an unacceptable way of treating opponents.