Ovechkin appears in Putin party campaign video ahead of Russian elections

Alexander Ovechkin appeared in a campaign video for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in the days before Russia's parliamentary elections, scheduled for September 18 to 20. The hockey star, who was preparing to leave Russia for his 22nd season with the Washington Capitals, did not speak in the video but was visible in the background behind Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who heads the party's electoral slate. The appearance marked another chapter in a long pattern of public political alignment that Ovechkin has maintained while repeatedly insisting he is not a political figure.

This is not Ovechkin's first visible act of support for Putin. In 2017, three years after Russia's seizure of Crimea, Ovechkin announced the creation of "PutinTeam" on Instagram, a group designed to mobilize support for Putin's 2018 presidential campaign. "I have never hidden my feelings about our president; I have always openly supported him," he wrote at the time, comparing the commitment to wearing the Russian national team jersey. That same year, he had posted a photograph of himself holding a sign reading "#savechildrenfromfascism," framing his support in terms of resisting what he characterized as fascist threats—language that echoed Putin's own justifications for military action.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the contradiction between Ovechkin's long-standing public backing of Putin and the scale of the military operation became impossible to ignore. A reporter asked him directly the day after the invasion began whether he still supported the president. "Well, he's my president," Ovechkin replied. "But how I said, I'm not in politics, I'm an athlete." He offered a generic appeal for peace—"Please, no more war. It doesn't matter who's in the war"—but did not criticize Russia's military action or distance himself from Putin.

The video appearance drew criticism from Ukrainian athletes, including skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the 2026 Olympic Games for insisting on wearing a helmet depicting athletes killed in Russia's war. The contrast between Ovechkin's continued public alignment with Putin and the ongoing conflict has underscored the tension between his stated focus on hockey and his repeated, visible political choices.

Ovechkin, now 40 years old, returned to the ice in Arlington, Virginia, for the Capitals' training camp. He has become one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history, having broken Wayne Gretzky's career record two seasons ago with 929 goals in 1,573 regular season games. After leaving his decision uncertain through much of the offseason, he committed to another season following a conversation with his wife. He scored 32 goals last season—a total matched by only two other players over the age of 40—and told reporters he remained capable of helping his team compete for the Stanley Cup. "I'm still a good player and can still help the team to win," he said after his first skate.

The Capitals are considered one of the league's strongest rosters on paper, though oddsmakers rank them 18th among 32 teams in Stanley Cup odds for 2027. United Russia, meanwhile, appears positioned to retain its parliamentary majority in the elections Ovechkin will not attend in person. His appearance in the campaign video, made before his departure for the United States, represents a continuation of the public political alignment he has maintained for nearly a decade—one he has never fully reconciled with his repeated claims that his focus is sport, not politics.