A National Hockey League star appeared in a campaign ad for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party ahead of this week’s parliamentary elections. Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals’ captain and the NHL’s all-time regular-season goals leader, has supported Putin for years. But he has been quiet since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Ovechkin has played for the Capitals his entire career, and the 40-year-old made hockey history last year when he scored a record-breaking 895th regular-season goal. When the invasion started, the NHL star said Putin remained his president, but he hoped the war would end. Ovechkin signed a one-year contract extension in July, so he is busy preparing for the upcoming season with the Capitals while filming this ad. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is the leading candidate in the United Russia party, so he’s the only one speaking in the ad. In it, he warned that “those who come at us with a sword” should “expect no mercy,” and those who stand with Russia will be met with “agreement.” Standing alongside Ovechkin behind Lavrov is Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the government-controlled RT network. Fans took to X to express their disappointment, saying Ovechkin is a “tool for Russian propaganda.”
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