NHL superstar Ovechkin ‘was asked’ to film Putin ad, team says

Russian sports icon joins prominent domestic figures promoting the ruling United Russia party ahead of elections.

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin stands for the national anthems before in Toronto, Canada [File: Nick Turchiaro/Imagn Images/Reuters]

The Washington Capitals ice hockey team has deflected criticism of star Alex Ovechkin’s appearance in a campaign video for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

A spokesperson for the Capitals said that their National Hockey League (NHL) record-setting goal scorer had been “asked by his country to participate”.

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Ovechkin, a longtime Putin supporter who spends his offseasons in Moscow, is among a group of prominent Russians shown in a campaign video for the ruling United Russia party ahead of nationwide elections this week.

The statement added: “This summer, while in Russia, he was asked by his country to participate in a video campaign. As the longest-tenured athlete in Washington, DC, and a pillar of the community, his focus and ours is on the season ahead and the continued impact he makes on the ice and in our city”.

While Ovechkin’s appearance comes as no surprise following similar endorsements of Putin in the past, it has drawn criticism as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags through its fifth year.

Putin’s United Russia is widely expected to retain its majority in the State Duma following this week’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections, but the vote is seen by the Kremlin as a barometer of public opinion on the war with Ukraine, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Ovechkin founded the “PutinTeam” social movement in 2017 to support the Russian president in the following year’s election and uses a photo of himself with Putin on his official Instagram page.

But following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ovechkin issued a plea for “no more war”, adding: “He’s my president, but … I’m not in politics.”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin greets captain Alex Ovechkin during an award ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 27, 2014 [File: Alexei Druzhinin/Ria Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters]

As the war escalated in 2023, a group of Capitals fans protested outside the team’s Capital One Arena, calling for Ovechkin to remove photos of Putin from his Instagram profile.

Czech former ice hockey star Dominik Hasek, a longtime Putin critic, commented on X that the statement “ignores the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Ukrainians and Russians killed or maimed – casualties for which Ovechkin bears a significant share of responsibility through his public stance”.

Ovechkin, who turns 41 on Thursday, has scored an NHL record 929 goals in 1,573 games.

In July, he signed a one-year contract worth $4.25m to return for a 22nd season with the Washington Capitals and has refused to commit to this being his final campaign.

俄罗斯体育偶像与国内知名人士一起，在选举前为执政的统一俄罗斯党进行宣传。

华盛顿首都队球星亚历克斯·奥维奇金在加拿大多伦多奏国歌前站立 [图片：Nick Turchiaro/Imagn Images/路透社]

华盛顿首都冰球队对明星球员亚历克斯·奥维奇金出现在俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京的统一俄罗斯党竞选视频中的举动表示反驳。

首都队的一位发言人表示，他们国家冰球联盟 (NHL) 创纪录的得分手“应国家邀请参加比赛”。

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美国将委内瑞拉从毒品名单中移除，这是三份名单中的第二份，特朗普表示。

（共3条）救援人员在加沙建筑物倒塌后搜寻幸存者

奥韦奇金是普京的长期支持者，休赛期常待在莫斯科。本周即将举行全国大选，他与其他一些俄罗斯知名人士一起出现在执政党统一俄罗斯党的竞选视频中。

声明补充道：“今年夏天，他在俄罗斯期间，应国家邀请参与了一项视频宣传活动。作为华盛顿特区效力时间最长的运动员，也是社区的支柱，他和我们一样，都将注意力集中在即将到来的赛季以及他在冰上和我们这座城市持续发挥的影响力上。”

尽管奥韦奇金的出现并不令人意外，因为他过去也曾公开支持普京，但随着俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争已经持续到第五年，此举也引发了批评。

在本周严格控制的议会选举之后，普京的统一俄罗斯党预计将继续保持其在国家杜马的多数席位，但克里姆林宫将此次投票视为公众对乌克兰战争（造成数十万人死亡）的看法的晴雨表。

奥韦奇金于 2017 年创立了“普京团队”社会运动，以支持俄罗斯总统普京参加次年的选举，并在他的官方 Instagram 页面上使用了一张他与普京的合影。

但在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后，奥韦奇金呼吁“不要再打仗”，并补充说：“他是我的总统，但是……我不参与政治。”

2014年5月27日，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京在莫斯科克里姆林宫举行的颁奖典礼上向俄罗斯空军上尉亚历克斯·奥韦奇金致意。[图片：Alexei Druzhinin/俄罗斯新闻社/克里姆林宫/路透社]

2023 年战争升级之际，一群华盛顿首都队的球迷在球队的主场 Capital One Arena 外举行抗议活动，呼吁奥韦奇金从他的 Instagram 个人资料中删除普京的照片。

捷克前冰球明星多米尼克·哈谢克长期以来一直是普京的批评者，他在X上评论说，该声明“无视了数十万甚至数百万乌克兰人和俄罗斯人被杀害或致残的事实——奥韦奇金因其公开立场对这些伤亡负有相当大的责任”。

奥维奇金将于周四迎来 41 岁生日，他在 1573 场比赛中攻入了 NHL 纪录的 929 个进球。

7 月，他与华盛顿首都队签下了一份价值 425 万美元的一年合同，将重返该队征战第 22 个赛季，但他拒绝承诺这将是他的最后一个赛季。