With the death of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition loses its leader. In the West he is seen as a liberal icon. But the accusation is repeatedly made that Navalny was an ultra-nationalist.
The death of Alexei Navalny shocked Russians, who are opponents of President Vladimir Putin. For them, the opposition politician embodied hope for a better future. But now the accusation is emerging – especially on social media – that Navalny was actually a racist. Behind the liberal facade he hid Great Russian attitudes, nationalism and xenophobia.
The allegations are not new. It has been claimed for many years that Navalny is an ultra-nationalist. The core is YouTube videos that Navalny recorded in 2007 when he founded his political movement and wanted to help it gain attention. In one he calls for the right for Russians to own weapons. In another Disguised as a dentist, he compares ethnic problems in Russia with tooth decay and claims that impending fascism can only be prevented by deporting migrants. At the end he says: “We have a right to this, in Russia [ethnische] to be Russian. And we will defend this right.
The second video is particularly disturbing. Especially since Navalny had begun taking part in the annual “Russian March,” a demonstration of ultra-nationalists and right-wing radicals. In 2008, like most of his compatriots, he supported Russia’s invasion of Georgia. He later apologized for it. In 2013, Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow. One of his central issues was illegal immigration from Central Asia.
Navalny also supported the first Chechen war waged by Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s; at that time he was studying law in Moscow. The former Soviet republic declared itself independent in 1991. Navalny saw the fight against Chechen apostates as a fight to restore law and order. According to the later opposition politician’s companions, he experienced the fight between rival gangs over the drug trade in his university during his studies. A group of Chechens dealt in Navalyn’s dormitory and exercised control, which left Navalny with deep prejudices.
Ukrainians angry
After Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Navalny angered Ukrainians. He had said that as Russian president he would not automatically return the peninsula to Ukraine. “Is Crimea a sandwich that is passed back and forth? I don’t think so,” he said in an interview. However, Navalny spoke out in favor of a referendum in which the residents should decide whether Crimea belongs to Russia or Ukraine.
Navalny vehemently rejected the war of aggression against Ukraine that Russia began two years ago. He spoke out in favor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and that Russia must use oil and gas revenues to pay reparations.
The unsavory dentist video and Navalny’s participation in the “Russian March” can only be understood through Navalny’s ambitions. He didn’t want to be like dissidents during the Soviet era, who discussed politics with like-minded people in the kitchen at home and longed for a better future. Navalny actively wanted to bring down Putin’s system and replace it with a free, democratic society. Navalny was convinced that this could only be achieved through a broad movement that went beyond the liberal milieus of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Navalny began his political career when Putin was first elected Russian president in 2000. He joined the most famous liberal party, Yabloko. Back then, Putin cultivated an image as a determined leader who would ensure order and stability after the severe economic crisis of the late 1990s. With oil and gas prices rising sharply, Russia experienced an upswing. A middle class emerged in the big cities that frequented chic cafés and could afford iPhones and vacations. The majority accepted the deal with Putin in return for staying out of politics. Meanwhile, the power apparatus enriched itself through systematic corruption.
That weakened the liberal opposition. At the same time, little of the economic upswing reached outside the big cities. Navalny looked outside the liberal bubble for support. He also relied on Russian nationalists from the underprivileged working class milieu. “Everyone who has gathered here can throw the thieving assholes out of the Kremlin tomorrow,” he shouted from the stage at a “Russian March.” He had to leave Yabloko and founded his own movement, which exposed the extent of institutionalized corruption.
“Putin is the final chord”
Navalny said nationalism was too important to be left to neo-Nazis. The question is what Russia is. As an empire, as the core of the Soviet Union and even today, Russia is not a nation state, but rather the center of a multi-ethnic empire, dominated by Russians who define themselves as superior. In contrast, former Soviet republics – such as Ukraine – have developed their own national identity. This is exactly the kind of identity Navalny had in mind – a democratic nation-state that threatens no one. An alternative to the backward-looking, imperial nationalism in the repressive tradition of the Soviet Union. “Putin is the final chord of the USSR,” he told the Economist.
Navalny saw the “Russian March,” initially the largest demonstration against Putin to date, as a legitimate political expression that should be allowed in a free Russia, for which he and his supporters were fighting. “You have to talk to the nationalists and educate them,” said Navalny. “It is very important to explain to them that the problem of illegal immigration will not be solved by beating up migrants, but through other, democratic means: a return to free elections that would help us get rid of the crooks and thieves [also das korrupte System Putins] to get rid of those who enrich themselves through illegal immigration.”
“Under normal circumstances, in a normal political system, I would never join forces with them,” Navalny said in a documentary film that can be seen on RTL+. “But you are citizens of the Russian Federation. And if I want to fight Putin and lead the country, I can’t do a huge part [der Menschen] to ignore. We live in a country where politicians are poisoned, people are killed or arrested for no reason. That’s why I don’t mind sitting down with people who don’t reflect well on me.”
Navalny soon tried to distance himself from some of his early statements. “Today they look very stupid,” he told The Economist as he recovered from a poison attack in Germany. He insisted that he was simply trying to broaden the base of his political movement. “I have achieved nothing except damaging my own image,” said Navalny. “I am called a nationalist by the liberals and a liberal by the nationalists.”