Russian authorities have handed over the body of late opposition politician Alexei Navalny to his mother, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday. Navalny’s relatives and his team had been pleading with the authorities for days to release his body after the leading dissident died in a Siberian penal colony aged 47 last week under unclear circumstances. “Alexey’s body was handed over to his mother. Many thanks to all those who demanded this with us,” Yarmysh said. Navalny’s mother, who had travelled to the prison in Russia’s far north where her son had been held af…