Alexei Navalny: Putin’s opponent, but still a far-right nationalist
Edit: This article was originaly written on Feb 8, 2024, a week before his death. Alexei Navalny died on Feb 16, 2024.
Introduction
Alexei Navalny is a controversial figure. On one side, he's a true opponent to Putin, and on the flip side, he's a self-proclaimed nationalist.
The West sees in him an enemy of Putin, and therefore, a potential ally. But the free world should think twice, because his agenda is not aligned with our.
Let's decrypt.
The good
Alexei Navalny proved numerous times he was a fierce and determined opponent to Putin, by all possible means. This is laudable.
Navalny has also been fighting corruption and kleptocracy in the last 20 years, and never changed on this point. This is admirable.
Navalny is also an advocate of human rights in Russia, which is great, but only for Russian citizens, as we'll see just after, which is less great.
I won't write much more about the things he did great, because these things are well-known in the West. It doesn't mean they are not important, because they are, but it's usually the only part the free world knows about Navalny.
The "dark side" of Navalny is usually less known, and it's important also to understand it. Not to judge Navalny individually, but to understand the civil society of Russia as a whole, as he is in 2024 the biggest opponent to Putin, and still the "closest" to western ideals. With a big gap.
The bad
Nationalist
He claimed to be nationalist in several interviews.
In 2011, he even attended the ultra-right nationalist march behind the slogan of "Russia for ethnic Russians" and sang "Stop feeding the Caucasus!"
Source: The Economist
Source: The New Yorker
Source: Le Monde Diplomatique
Xenophobic
He advocates for the deportation of foreigners.
In a 2011 video, Navalny, dressed as a dentist said "Everything in our way should be carefully but decisively removed through deportation," comparing immigrants to dental cavities.
Source: His video archived on another YouTube channel
Racist
He compared Muslims to cockroaches and advocated to legalize gun ownership to kill them.
Source: His own YouTube channel
Source: Time Magazine
He also said in a 2013 interview that Muslim women's ideal would be, according to him, "being wrapped up in a burqa and having 25 children" while having "a Porsche Cayenne and a golden gun"
Source: The Atlantic
It's important to note that he refused to change his mind on the subject in the last 15 years.
Source: The Guardian
His videos are still online in 2024, contrary to other videos on topics where he changed his mind.
Homophobic
In 2017, his team claimed to be in favor of gay marriage, but later used homophobic insults in another interview, leading to question his true beliefs.
Indeed, in a 2019 interview for the Financial Times, he used the Russian slur for gay people "pidorasy" (pederasty) several times, aggravated with the Russian insult "mat" ("fucking")
Source: Financial Times
Imperialist
In 2008, he supported the Russian invasion of Georgia, treating Georgians as “rodents”. Obviously, most Georgians don’t like him much since, even if he apologized years later.
Source: Euronews
In 2014, he initially argued that Crimea shouldn't be given back to Ukraine, kept that view during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and only changed his mind only in 2023.
Source: Time Magazine
In 2022, he advocated that instead of giving money for weapons in Ukraine, the West should pay for "advertisements in Russia" to educate Russians, knowing that Putin won't accept such a thing, and that would equal giving money to Russia.
Source: Navalny's Twitter account
For these reasons and others, most Ukrainians are not fond of Navalny. Generally speaking, Ukrainians believe that there is no real opposition in Russia, not because it's suppressed, but because even the suppressed opposition still supports the imperialistic view generally shared by most Russian citizens.
Source: Aljazeera
Conclusion
Alexei Navalny is a true opponent of Putin, but also a far right nationalist, imperialist, and chauvinist.
Therefore, in his case, the enemy of our enemy... is still not our friend. Unfortunately.
Even if Russia one day got free and fair elections - which won't happen without strong support from outside - and if Navalny was elected president, he probably won't rule with the same values as in the West. He may not invade other countries, but he extensively repeated that he would govern like the far-right nationalist he claims to be.
Edit after his death: Navalny was killed by Putin on Feb 16, 2024. It's another example of the danger of Putin, and also a sign that any change in Russia probably won't come from within, at least not without external help.