More than 40 countries have demanded an independent international investigation into the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and said President Vladimir Putin bore ultimate responsibility. European Union countries joined the United States, Britain, Ukraine, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway in voicing outrage on March 4 over Navalny's death. EU Ambassador Lotte Knudsen, speaking on behalf of 43 countries, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Russia "must allow an independent and transparent international investigation into circumstances of his sudden death," which is viewed as "yet another sign of the accelerating and systematic repression in Russia."