The wife of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has attended a church service in his honour on the day he would have turned 48.

Yulia Navalnaya who is also an activist committed to her late husband's campaign, thanked the church leaders for organising the Berlin memorial service on what would have been her late husband's birthday:

"I would like to thank Bishop (Christian) Staeblein and Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin for organizing and conducting this service. I would like to thank everyone who came today on Alexei's birthday to honour his memory. Thank you very much."

Alexei Navalny, Putin's most prominent domestic critic, died in February in an Arctic prison. Russian authorities, who have outlawed Navalny's movement as extremist, say he died of natural causes.

His followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the Kremlin denies.

Yulia Navalnaya, continues his work as an opposition figure advocating for freedom of speech in Russia.