By Brad Ulery
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Alexander Ovechkin said on Thursday that he agreed to appear in a political campaign advertisement for the United Russia party, which is backed by President Vladimir Putin, because he supports his country.
“I’m Russian, and I support my country,” Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading goalscorer, told reporters at the Washington Capitals’ media day.
“I’m for peace and love, and I hope in the world it doesn’t matter who you are, I hope everybody understands, everybody wants peace and everybody hope everything is going to be okay in the world.”
Russia will hold a parliamentary election from September 18 to 20, the first since it launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Ovechkin, who can be seen standing behind Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the video, said he was asked to participate and did not hesitate to agree. He added that he will live in Russia following the end of his career.
“As soon as I’m done playing hockey, I’m probably going to stay there,” he said. “I’m gonna live there, my kids gonna live there, family. I’m for peace and love and I hope everything’s going to be okay.”
Ovechkin has faced scrutiny over his longstanding ties to Putin as Russia wages war in Ukraine. In 2017 he formed a public movement in support of Putin and his Instagram profile picture is a photo of him and the Russian president.
He called for peace in February 2022 following his home country’s invasion of Ukraine. When asked about his support for Putin at the time, he said, “Well, he is my president. But … I am not in politics. I am an athlete and … I hope everything is going to be done soon.”
Ovechkin, who turned 41 on Thursday, has scored 929 goals in 1,573 regular-season NHL games and the upcoming season will be his 22nd in the league. He led the Capitals to a Stanley Cup in 2018.
(Reporting by Brad Ulery, writing by Nicole Fernandes;Editing by Christian Radnedge)
