NHL top star facing backlash after supporting Putin’s party in Russian elections

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Russian NHL hockey star Alexander Ovechkin is facing a wave of criticism after appearing in an election ad for President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

A video released ahead of Russia’s parliamentary elections this weekend shows the hockey star endorsing Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is one of the political heavyweights among the party’s candidates, as Lavrov warns Moscow’s enemies to “expect no mercy.”

Ovechkin, who captains the Washington Capitals, said he had felt no hesitation about appearing in the ad.

“I’m Russian. I support my country,” he told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that he expects to retire to Russia once his NHL career is over. “I’m gonna live there, my kids are gonna live there. I’m for peace and love and I hope everything’s going to be okay.”

Natalia Kolesnikova/Anadolu/Getty Images

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The video, and Ovechkin’s subsequent statements, have sparked harsh criticism in Europe, the United States and Canada, which is part of the NHL.

Latvia announced on Thursday that it has banned Ovechkin from entering the country. In the same statement, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was also banning Umar Kremlev, the Kremlin-connected businessman who reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund parts of Trump Jr.’s wedding celebration in the Bahamas. President Donald Trump on Friday claimed his son had paid back the Russian billionaire.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which represents the roughly 1.3 million Canadians who identify as Ukrainian, called for Ovechkin to be sanctioned and banned from entering Canada, calling him “a disgusting supporter of Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) sent a letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman saying it was “incredibly alarming” that Ovechkin had shown public support for “the party of war criminal Putin.” He called on the league to review its policies.

Russia denies allegation that it is committing war crimes in Ukraine despite the charges brought against Putin and other Russian officials by the International Criminal Court.

Olga Saladukha, the head of the Ukrainian Athletics Federation, said in a statement the video illustrated why sport and politics cannot be separated when it comes to Russia. “Sport and athletes represent in the Russian Federation – yet another element of the state, state propaganda, militarism and imperial delusions,” she said.

And NHL Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek posted on X that Ovechkin “bears a significant share of responsibility through his public stance… for the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Ukrainians and Russians killed or maimed.”

Alongside Ovechkin, the video features an array of Kremlin propagandists, including the editor-in-chief of state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, and the film star and staunch Putin supporter Vladimir Mashkov, best known for the 2001 movie “Behind Enemy Lines” and 2011’s “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” Mashkov has been sanctioned in Europe over his backing for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Washington Capitals said in a statement Ovechkin had been asked to film the video while he was in Russia for the summer. Capitals ⁠general manager ​Chris Patrick told ESPN that Ovechkin had not told the team about the filming. “I would say it’s a difficult situation, and I understand why people are upset,” Patrick was quoted as saying.

Ovechkin is one of the NHL’s most decorated player s . He has been captain of the Washington Capitals for 16 seasons and had his multi-million contract with the team renewed for another season in July.

He became the NHL’s all-time top scorer in April 2025, receiving a personal congratulatory message from Putin. He then scored his record 900th goal last November, a month after turning 40.

Ovechkin’s friendship with Putin is no secret – his Instagram profile photo is a snap with the Russian leader and he has previously campaigned for him. But he has adopted a more careful tone since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He previously said he had “lots of friends in Russia and Ukraine” and hoped the war would be over soon.

CNN’s Zahra Ullah and Svitlana Vlasova contributed reporting.

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俄罗斯国家冰球联盟 (NHL) 球星亚历山大·奥韦奇金 (Alexander Ovechkin) 因出现在俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京 (Vladimir Putin) 的统一俄罗斯党的竞选广告中而面临铺天盖地的批评。

在俄罗斯本周末议会选举前发布的一段视频中，这位冰球明星公开支持外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫，拉夫罗夫是该党候选人中的重量级人物之一。拉夫罗夫警告莫斯科的敌人“不要指望得到怜悯”。

华盛顿首都队队长奥维奇金表示，他毫不犹豫地出演了这则广告。

“我是俄罗斯人，我支持我的国家，”他在周四的新闻发布会上告诉记者，并补充说，他希望在NHL职业生涯结束后回到俄罗斯退休。“我会住在那里，我的孩子们也会住在那里。我热爱和平与爱，我希望一切都会好起来。”

娜塔莉亚·科列斯尼科娃/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

空荡荡的讲台，电子投票的奖品，没有反对派：俄罗斯民众在乌克兰战事升级之际前往投票站

这段视频以及奥维奇金随后的声明在欧洲、美国和加拿大（NHL 成员国）引发了严厉的批评。

拉脱维亚周四宣布禁止奥韦奇金入境。在同一份声明中，拉脱维亚外交部表示，同时禁止与克里姆林宫关系密切的商人乌马尔·克雷姆列夫入境。据报道，克雷姆列夫曾花费数十万美元资助小特朗普在巴哈马举行的婚礼的部分费用。美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周五声称，他的儿子已经偿还了这位俄罗斯亿万富翁的款项。

代表约 130 万自认为是乌克兰裔的加拿大人的加拿大乌克兰人大会呼吁对奥韦奇金进行制裁，并禁止他进入加拿大，称他是“俄罗斯对乌克兰发动种族灭绝战争的令人作呕的支持者”。

与此同时，南卡罗来纳州共和党众议员乔·威尔逊致信NHL总裁加里·贝特曼，称奥韦奇金公开支持“战争罪犯普京的政党”“令人极其震惊”。他呼吁联盟重新审视其政策。

尽管国际刑事法院对普京和其他俄罗斯官员提出了指控，但俄罗斯否认在乌克兰犯下战争罪行。

乌克兰田径联合会主席奥尔加·萨拉杜哈在一份声明中表示，这段视频说明了为什么在俄罗斯，体育和政治密不可分。“在俄罗斯联邦，体育和运动员代表着国家、国家宣传、军国主义和帝国主义妄想的又一个组成部分，”她说道。

NHL名人堂守门员多米尼克·哈谢克在X上发帖称，奥韦奇金“通过他的公开立场，对数十万甚至数百万被杀害或致残的乌克兰人和俄罗斯人负有重大责任”。

除了奥韦奇金之外，这段视频还出现了一系列克里姆林宫的宣传人员，包括俄罗斯国家电视台RT的总编辑玛格丽塔·西蒙尼扬，以及电影明星、普京的坚定支持者弗拉基米尔·马什科夫。马什科夫最知名的作品是2001年的电影《深入敌后》和2011年的《碟中谍4：幽灵协议》。马什科夫因支持俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争而受到欧洲的制裁。

华盛顿首都队在一份声明中表示，奥维奇金是在夏季身处俄罗斯期间被要求拍摄这段视频的。首都队总经理克里斯·帕特里克告诉ESPN，奥维奇金事先并未告知球队此事。“我认为这确实是一个棘手的情况，我理解人们为何感到愤怒，”帕特里克说道。

奥维奇金是NHL历史上最有成就的球员之一。他担任华盛顿首都队队长已有16个赛季，并在今年7月与球队续签了一份价值数百万美元的合同。

2025年4月，他成为NHL历史得分王，并收到了普京的亲自祝贺。去年11月，在他40岁生日一个月后，他打进了职业生涯的第900个进球，创造了新的纪录。

奥韦奇金与普京的友谊并非秘密——他的Instagram头像就是一张与普京的合影，而且他此前还曾为普京的竞选活动站台。但自2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰以来，他的语气变得更加谨慎。他此前曾表示，他在俄罗斯和乌克兰“有很多朋友”，并希望战争能够尽快结束。

美国有线电视新闻网 (CNN) 的扎赫拉·乌拉 (Zahra Ullah) 和斯维特拉娜·弗拉索娃 (Svitlana Vlasova) 提供了报道。