Ovechkin appears in Putin party campaign ad

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has appeared in a campaign video supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, reviving scrutiny of the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer and his long-standing ties to the Russian leader as the Capitals prepare to open training camp.

The television spot, which surfaced this week, shows Ovechkin among a group of prominent Russians backing the ruling party ahead of elections. Others in the video include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and retired Detroit Red Wings defenseman Viacheslav “Slava” Fetisov.

The Capitals confirmed Ovechkin’s participation and said his political activity away from the rink will not affect the coming NHL season.

“Alex Ovechkin is a Russian citizen who lives in Moscow with his family during the offseason and will live there following his retirement,” team spokesman Sergey Kocharov said in a statement Wednesday. “This summer, while in Russia, he was asked by his country to participate in a video campaign. As the longest-tenured athlete in Washington, D.C. 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.”

Ovechkin has publicly supported Putin for years. In 2017, he launched the “Putin Team” social movement to back the Russian president ahead of the following year’s election. Al Jazeera reported that Ovechkin also uses a photo of himself with Putin on his official Instagram page.

His latest appearance comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues. NBC News reported that more than 250,000 Russian soldiers, up to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and nearly 14,000 Ukrainian civilians are estimated to have been killed since Putin launched the invasion in February 2022. Al Jazeera described the war as having killed hundreds of thousands of people and said United Russia is widely expected to retain its majority in the State Duma in tightly controlled parliamentary elections this week.

After the invasion began, Ovechkin called for “no more war,” saying, “He’s my president, but … I’m not in politics,” according to Al Jazeera. In 2023, a group of Capitals fans protested outside Capital One Arena and urged him to remove photos of Putin from his Instagram profile.

Former NHL goaltender Dominik Hašek, a Czech Hall of Famer and outspoken critic of Putin, condemned Ovechkin’s participation this week. On X, Hašek circled Ovechkin’s face in an image of campaign supporters and wrote: “Because of each of them, many Ukrainians and Russians will be killed.” Al Jazeera also reported that Hašek said the Capitals’ 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 this week, has scored 929 goals in 21 NHL seasons, all with Washington. He passed Wayne Gretzky for the league’s career goals record on April 6, 2025, against the New York Islanders. A three-time Hart Trophy winner, he led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018 and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Al Jazeera reported that Ovechkin signed a one-year, $4.25 million contract in July to return for a 22nd season and has not committed to whether it will be his last. The Capitals open training camp Thursday, with their regular-season opener set for Oct. 2 against the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.