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"Before Navalny entered national-level politics in 2013, when he ran for Moscow mayor, coming second only to the Kremlin-backed incumbent, he had engaged for years in the promotion of a Russian nationalism rooted in the idea of ethnic Russian supremacy within Russia. By the time he tried to rule the country — in 2017 he was barred from taking part in the presidential election — this had softened, but not disappeared.

Three primary episodes define Navalny’s activity as a political Russian nationalist before he became a people’s hero. In 2007, he had forged political connections with some of the most important Russian nationalist groups in the country, including the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DNPI, now outlawed in Russia), which organized and led the “Russia March” in major urban areas across Russia. These marches galvanized far-right and skinhead groups alongside ordinary ethnic Russians against the perceived overrunning of Russia by migrants and immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus, most of whom are Muslim. Navalny joined the march’s organizing committee. Slogans such as “Russia for Russians” and various racial slurs against visible minorities abounded. That same year, he founded the group “Narod,” meaning “people,” which supported the ethnic nationalist themes and ideals employed by the DNPI.

This alliance led to two widely criticized videos from 2007-2008. In the first, which promoted gun ownership for Russians, Navalny compared Muslim migrants to cockroaches and flies. In the second, he proposed that Central Asian migrants be expelled from Russia like a dentist would dispose of a rotten tooth.

In 2019, Navalny reiterated his call for a strict visa regime between Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia on the basis of religious radicalism and so-called cultural differences. However, no visas would be necessary for Western countries, or Ukraine. Even as Putin moved toward the right and adapted Navalny’s nationalism to his own ends, Navalny himself maintained that Russia and the West were fundamentally different from the “other” represented by Muslims from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

There certainly is an irony in Navalny’s calls for these restrictions: Central Asia and the Caucasus have become the primary destinations of Russians fleeing conscription and further crackdowns since the Feb. 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/navalnys-future-russia-did-not-include-everyone/

"Kremlin cheerleaders have also sought to discredit Navalny, with Russia's state-owned RT channel publishing a thread by freelance columnist Katya Kazbek that blasted him as an "avowed racist" and accused supporters of "whitewashing" his nationalism."

If you commit a hate speech, Amnesty International says it's okay for a state to persecute you (coming to us all soon):

"Amnesty International has stripped the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny of his "prisoner of conscience" status after it says it was "bombarded" with complaints highlighting xenophobic comments that he has made in the past and not renounced. Amnesty International concluded that comments made by Navalny some 15 years ago, including a video which appears to compare immigrants to cockroaches, amounted to "hate speech" which was incompatible with the label "prisoner of conscience"."

https://www.timesofisrael.com/navalny-goes-on-trial-in-russia-on-charges-of-rehabilitating-nazi-ideology/