From my limited understanding, Navalny was very much a Russian patriot. More in the political sense, perhaps than was Solzhenitsyn, who was a patriot in the cultural and religious sense. Which is why one died in prison, and the other was able to move to New England, buy a house, and write.
It is a delicate balance. At times of extreme adversity, the places in other countries come to my mind -- the cathedrals (even those I've been asked to leave so that only those of a certain ethnicity would be there for the service), the theatres (even during the long evenings), and the coffeehouses (I tend to remember the better-ventilated ones). Culturally, I am Solzhenitsyn vis-a-vis things American. But for some reason, politically, I am taken for another thing entirely. Which is still a bit of a mystery to me. I've never turned to fight that sort of thing -- just kept trying to do the work despite it.
Solzhenitsyn wouldn't have made it a point to feud with the apparatchiks. Quite the opposite.
"Work, Uncle Vanya. We must work."
No matter how cold the nights.