Large and symmetric: The Khukhro--Makarenko theorem on laws --- without laws

We prove a generalisation of the Khukhro--Makarenko theorem on large characteristic subgroups with laws. This general fact implies new results on groups, algebras, and even graphs and other structures. Concerning groups, we obtain, e.g., a fact in a sense dual to the Khukhro--Makarenko theorem. A graph-theoretic corollary is an analogue of this theorem in which planarity plays the role of a multilinear identity. We answer also a question of Makarenko and Shumyatsky.