What is significance of the pallbearers' red-black-red armbands during Navalny's funeral?

Question

During Alexei Navalny's (Russian Orthodox) funeral on March 1, 2024, multiple photos show the pallbearers wearing the same red-black-red armbands on the left arm, as seen in Photos: Crowds attend Navalny funeral as Kremlin warns against protests, In pictures: Defiant Russians gather for Alexei Navalny's funeral, and Funeral of Alexei Navalny in Moscow – in pictures, for instance.

Looking back, it seems that the (military) pallbearers during Gorbachev's funeral also wore similar armbands, but in this case those were black-red-black, as seen In Photos: Gorbachev Laid To Rest After Moscow Funeral That Putin Didn’t Attend.

I am aware that plain black armbands are sometimes used as a sign of mourning, but I could find no reference to the red color.

Is this typical for (Russian) Orthodox funerals or is this a political/cultural/regional thing? What is the significance of the red color specifically? Do they have a specific name, and what is their origin?

Answer 1

In Orthodoxy, the color red is used for the Nativity fast, martyrs, and the Cross, in particular (source/example).

However, it looks like this just a thing among Navalny supporters, from the New York Times:

Between the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, red is something of the color of the moment. A week ago, however, it began to take on an entirely different meaning, as a growing number of Russians began to post pictures of themselves on social media wearing clothes in all shades of crimson in support of Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny. Red is known to be Ms. Navalnaya’s favorite color, and she wore a bright red top to her husband’s trial on Feb. 2. As of Monday, there were 13,300 posts on Instagram of women (and a smattering of men) in red dresses, parkas, turtlenecks — pretty much any garment that could be enlisted for the cause — along with the hashtag #негрустивсебудетхорошо or “don’t be sad, everything will be OK,” which is what Mr. Navalny is reported to have said to his wife after being sentenced to more than two years in prison for a parole violation.