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The death of Alexei Navalny has been confirmed by his spokesperson, but it remains unclear where the body of the Vladimir Putin critic is.

Spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a post on X the most prominent face of the Russian opposition to Mr Putin was “murdered” at a remote Arctic penal colony.

She said Mr Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, was informed by authorities that her son had died on 16 February at 2.17pm, local time.

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Prominent Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov added that prison officials told Mr Navalny’s mother that he had died due to “sudden death syndrome”.

But the body of the 47-year-old has not yet been located or released by authorities.

Mr Navalny’s mother was told by a prison official that her son’s body was taken to the nearby city of Salekhard as part of a probe into his death, Ms Yarmysh said.

But when they arrived at the morgue, it was closed, and workers said the body was not there.

Hours later, Ms Yarmysh said lawyers for the politician were told Mr Navalny’s body would not be handed over to his relatives until an investigation into his death had been completed.

She accused the Investigation Committee in Salekhard of “driving us around in circles and covering their tracks” as only hours before they were told the investigation had already been concluded, and nothing criminal had been established.

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported on Friday that Mr Navalny felt sick after a walk and became unconscious at the penal colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region, which is within the Arctic Circle.

More than 340 detained in Russia

Meanwhile, more than 340 people have been detained in Russia since the moment Mr Navalny’s death became public, according to independent human rights organisation, OVD-Info.

This included 230 people across multiple cities who were detained on Saturday.

OVD-Info said others had been detained the day before when they came to lay flowers in memory of Mr Navalny.

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Among the held included a priest who went to a memorial in St Petersburg to conduct a service in the politician’s memory.

In Moscow, social media footage showed a large group of people chanting “shame” as police dragged a screaming woman from the crowd.

Putin ‘should be held accountable’

Hours after Mr Navalny’s death was reported, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, made a dramatic appearance at a security conference in Germany where many world leaders had gathered.

She said that she was unsure if she could believe the news from official Russian sources, “but if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around Putin, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband”.

Reacting, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “moved” by Mrs Navalnaya’s words, adding that Russia has to be held to account.

It came after the UK’s Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said: “We should hold Putin accountable for this. And no one should be in any doubt about the dreadful nature of Putin’s regime in Russia after what has just happened.”

Foreign ministers of the G7 – made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US – have called on Russia to fully clarify the circumstances of Mr Navalny’s death.

Five workers have been killed and three are seriously injured after part of a building collapsed on a construction site in Italy.

Around eight workers were buried under rubble after a concrete beam and slabs collapsed at the site of a new supermarket in Florence on Friday morning.

On Saturday, the president of the Tuscany region, which comprises Florence, confirmed that the body of a fifth person had been retrieved after rescue teams continued the “complex” operation to get to those trapped under the debris.

Italian media said the five victims were an Italian man, three Moroccans and a Tunisian.

Three others who were pulled from the debris were taken to hospital in serious but not life-threatening conditions.

Officials said after preliminary assessments of the site, the accident happened due to a “structural collapse” of the concrete beam, which may have been caused by a defect in the way it was made.

Florence prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the collapse.

Pope Francis was joined by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other Italian officials in expressing grief for the deaths, and on Saturday called for “more efforts from those responsible for protecting workers”.

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Marina Caprotti, president of supermarket chain Esselunga, also sent her condolences. She said the construction work for the new shop was outsourced to a third party.

Accidents on work sites are fairly common in Italy, with 601 workplace deaths across the country in 2021 and 435 reported in 2022, the second-highest figure in the European Union after France, according to statistics agency Eurostat.

In 2023, there were 1,000 deaths at work, according to Maurizio Landini, leader of Italy’s CGIL union.

It comes as CGIL and another of Italy’s largest unions, UIL, called a two-hour strike set for 21 February blaming the excessive use of subcontracting for lowering wages, safety, training and working conditions on building sites.

“We are tired of hearing words of condolence. Work and safety must be at the centre of political attention to implement concrete solutions, starting from the places most at risk such as construction sites,” the unions said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fought back against condemnation over a potential offensive in the Gaza city of Rafah, saying those advising against it are “telling us to lose the war”.

Leaders and officials around the world, including US President Joe Biden and UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, have continually warned Mr Netanyahu against sending troops into Rafah, with particular concern about civilians who are sheltering there.

But speaking during a press conference on Saturday, Mr Netanyahu seemed to hit out at forewarnings, saying: “Whoever is telling us not to operate in Rafah is telling us to lose the war.”

“I will not have a part in this,” he added, saying the political campaign he is leading has allowed Israel to operate with “unprecedented freedom of action for five months”.

It comes as the prime minister confirmed his office has ordered the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to develop a plan to evacuate the city and destroy four Hamas battalions it says are deployed there.

“We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah,” he said during an interview aired on US network ABC last week.

“We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population.”

Around 1.4 million Palestinians are thought to be in Rafah, having evacuated their homes after Israel began its intense bombardment of the densely populated strip in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October attacks.

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Mr Netanyahu’s inability to shift tactics in Gaza has reportedly frustrated President Joe Biden, who warned Mr Netanyahu against sending troops into Rafah without a “credible” plan for protecting civilians.

Lord Cameron added that the UK is “very concerned” about the situation in Rafah and called for Israel to “stop and think seriously” before taking further action.

Two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat also said Egypt had threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if troops were sent into Rafah.

Egypt is worried fighting could push Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and force the closure of Gaza’s main aid supply route.

‘Delusional demands’

The country’s efforts to settle the conflict between Hamas and Israel further stalled after Mr Netanyahu halted truce talks after sending negotiators to Cairo.

When asked why Israeli negotiators did not return for further negotiations, Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday: “We got nothing except for delusional demands from Hamas.”

The demands, he said, included ending the war and leaving Hamas as it is, freeing “thousands of murderers” from Israeli jails.

The Egyptian and Qatari-mediated talks have tried to secure the release of over 100 Israeli hostages being held in the Hamas-ruled territory, but they ended with little change on Tuesday.

“I wanted to say not a millimetre – but there was not a nanometre of change,” Mr Netanyahu said.

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He added Israel would not give in to “international dictates” regarding a statehood agreement with the Palestinians, which he said could only be reached through direct negotiations without preconditions.

In Tel Aviv, thousands gathered outside the military’s headquarters to protest and put pressure on Mr Netanyahu’s government.

Meanwhile, Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said the group would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and “lifting of the unjust siege,” as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails.