It's weird.
This was a nothing story in Russia before he took his leave of absence. His departure from the Rangers brought on the media circus. Media outlets in Russia didn't initially publish Nazarov's words because they were too dumb and unbelievable. The story eventually came out in a tabloid.
If he ignored the story I think nothing would have come of it.
He's been on the receiving end of criticism previous to this too. He's brushed it off and lives his life fine with the Rangers and at home in Russia.
His actions have been so counterproductive.
I will comment just on Russian hockey journalism. You know it, writing just for our NA friends. All leading Russian hockey journalists are young, around 30-40, many if not all are a product (ideological/POV) of liberal outlet sports.ru. Only Shevchenko is older, but he is dumb. These journalists have their idol in American/Canadian hockey writers, especially Bob McKenzie. It is nothing bad to have idols, but they share NA point of view on the hockey scene, so they dislike the KHL. In principle, their opinion is - what is coming from America is always important, so they are writing about the story because American journalists write about it as well, so we (Russians) need it too. Plus, some of them like to include the politics into their hockey articles, and if they are liberal, some of them Navalny supporters, then you can not be surprised by this Panarin story.