Белов-Поткин initially did not support the military aggression against Ukraine and the escalation of war. From 2011-2013, he was one of the organizers of mass protests against election fraud and policies.
In 2014, Alexander Belov was accused of embezzling $5 billion from depositors of a Kazakhstani bank. His brother, Vladimir Basmanov, explained to journalists that the accusation was initiated by the Russian authorities «due to insufficiently respectful public treatment of ‘Kadyrovtsy’, assistance to the Kazakhstani democratic opposition, which, in their opinion, led to the creation of an ‘extremist community’ aimed at removing Nursultan Nazarbayev from power.»
A year later, the Investigative Committee initiated a case under the charge of «Extremism». In 2016, the Meshchansky Court of Moscow sentenced the activist to 7.5 years in prison on charges of money laundering (Article 174 of the Criminal Code), incitement of hatred (Article 282 of the Criminal Code), public calls for extremist activity (Article 280 of the Criminal Code), and creation of an extremist community (Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code). Later, the Moscow City Court reduced the sentence to 3.5 years. The nationalist himself then appealed to the () and called the verdict on extremism charges a political persecution, revenge for demanding the resignation of President Vladimir Putin.