Top 5 anti-Ukrainian statements by Navalny

 In the Ukrainian fight club, the first rule is clear: don’t seek salvation within the russian “opposition.” It’s saturated with imperialism from top to bottom. Analyzing the views and rhetoric of the so-called russian “liberals” reveals they haven’t dropped too far from their dictatorial apple tree. 

1. “Crimea is not a sandwich”:

“Is Crimea just a sandwich with some sausage or what? Something you can give and take back? Crimea will remain a part of russia and will never again become a part of Ukraine in the foreseeable future,” declared Navalny in an interview with Ekho Moskvy. http://surl.li/qopdb 

Although Navalny publicly shifted his stance with the start of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sincerity seemed lacking; it appeared more an act of adaptation and conformity.

2. In April 2022, at a time when Ukraine was in dire need of weapons and financial aid, the “oppositionist” proposed diverting funds from weaponry to advertising:

“One shot from a Javelin costs $230,000. For the same money, we’ll get 200 million views of advertisements of various formats and provide at least 300,000 clicks on links or at least 8 million views of videos with the truth about what’s happening in Ukraine,” Navalny posted on Facebook. 

3. In 2018, Navalny reacted with an imperialist tone to the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, reaffirming his allegiance to the “russian world”:

“Today an event of historic proportion will take place. A schism. The Council in Kyiv will complete the creation of a local church in Ukraine. The russian orthodox church will lose up to half of its ‘living’ parishes. What was created in a period of hundreds of years has been destroyed in four years by putin and his idiots. putin is an enemy of the russian world.” 

4. Navalny didn’t shy away from mocking the Ukrainian language either:

“If something truly sensational ever happens, like a flying saucer landing in the centre of Kyiv, everyone will write: ‘Wow! Aliens have arrived ‘на Україну’ [literally, onto Ukraine-ed]! Hurray! First contact has been made!’ But in the comments, Ukrainians will write: they’ve arrived ‘в Україну’ [literally, to Ukraine-ed]!’” 

When he was challenged with the comment “all literate people write: To Ukraine!”, Navalny replied: “I’m illiterate, then. And everyone around me is the same.”

5. Repeating the imperialist mantra, Navalny asserted that russians and Ukrainians are essentially one people:

“This is the opinion of a person who has spent a lot of time in Ukraine, and I have relatives there too. I don’t see any difference between russians and Ukrainians at all. For me, there’s no difference at all: they’re the same people.”  

There are many similar statements… and we don’t even have to go so far as to analyze the remarks of Navalny’s team members. Their outrage at corruption in russia’s “defense” industry is telling. It’s as if they see no issue with it, oblivious to the fact that, thanks to this corruption, the occupation forces produced fewer missiles that are now used to kill Ukrainians. 

History doesn’t entertain conditional scenarios. We can’t predict what would’ve happened had Navalny replaced Putin. But let’s assume that Navalny’s team could have continued developing russia’s military power on an imperialist foundation. And judging by his rhetoric, Navalny himself wouldn’t hesitate to assert: “I swore to defend my country’s constitution, and four regions of Ukraine, including Crimea, belong to russia, according to that same constitution”