Alexey Navalny's candidacy proposed as Yabloko party's presidential nominee

Russian anti-corruption crusader Alexey Navalny, who is currently under arrest, was proposed to be nominated as the liberal Yabloko party's presidential candidate, Ekho Moskvy reports on Friday.

His candidacy was proposed by the head of the Stupino office of the party, Nikolay Kuznetsov. The party's incumbent chairman, Sergey Mitrokhin, says he is surprised by such a proposition. "Navalny is no longer a member of the party and thus he cannot be nominated," Mitrokhin wrote on Twitter.

The party's former leader, Professor Grigory Yavlinsky, is believed likely to be nominated as Yabloko's presidential candidate for the third time.

Alexey Navalny used to be a member of the Yabloko party, but was forced to leave, as his nationalistic views were believed to contradict the party's ideology.

Alexey Navalny is well-known sponsor of the 'Enough feeding the Caucasus' slogan. According to him, this catchword is not a xenophobic slogan, but a call to change the current policy towards the Caucasus aimed at buying the loyalties of local elites.