As a resident Belarusian comrade (close enough I guess), that is basically almost always the case. They always chose some absolute ghoul, and because westerners don’t know the language or care enough to check the policies, no one double checks what those ghouls are saying.

In the example of Navalni, he is an ethnonationalist and “national purist”. He is literal scum. If Putin is reactionary, Navalni is a fascist.

Why was he popular? He watched Rick and Morty on Reddit. I shit you not.

Navalni is literally a comically evil Putin, all his positions are identical to Putin just even more nationalistic. You know nothing about him. He is essentially a Neo Nazi.