South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson has demanded that the NHL review Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin's appearance in a campaign video promoting Russian President Vladimir Putin's party, calling the appearance incredibly alarming just days before Russia's national elections. Wilson wrote directly to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, pressing the league to clarify its policies on players appearing in political advertisements for foreign regimes.
The demand, first reported by The National News Desk, comes as Russia holds parliamentary and regional elections from September 18 through 20 — the country's first parliamentary vote since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to Reuters. Ovechkin appeared in the United Russia campaign video alongside Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, RT head Margarita Simonyan, Russian military personnel, athletes, celebrities and politicians, with the ad using the tagline “When we are united, we are invincible,” per the outlet's reporting cited in the letter. Wilson described Putin's party bluntly as the party of war criminal Putin.
Capitals Say Ovechkin Was Simply Asked While Home
Capitals spokesperson Sergey Kocharov told The Hill that Ovechkin is a Russian citizen who lives in Moscow with his family during the offseason and plans to live there following retirement, and that he was asked by Russia to participate in the video while he was in the country. Kocharov added that Ovechkin's focus remains on the upcoming season and his continued impact on the ice and in Washington, D.C. Ovechkin has not weighed in publicly on the advertisement itself.
Wilson, who serves as Co-Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission and holds a senior position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that the NHL and the Capitals have an extraordinary platform and responsibility. He said American hockey fans deserve better leadership from their star players, and asked Bettman to clarify how the league handles players who appear in political advertisements on behalf of foreign regimes.
League Punts Questions to the Capitals
When news outlets approached the NHL about Wilson's letter, the league declined independent comment and deferred all inquiries to the Washington Capitals, according to the Associated Press. That posture stands in contrast to international hockey's governing body: the International Ice Hockey Federation banned Russian national and club teams from competition after the 2022 invasion and reaffirmed those sanctions for the 2026-27 season, per CBC Sports. The NHL, by comparison, has permitted individual Russian players to keep competing on North American teams without penalty.
Former Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils star Viacheslav “Slava” Fetisov, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and Hall of Famer, also appeared in the United Russia video alongside Lavrov and Simonyan. Fetisov, according to Meduza, serves as an elected member of the Russian State Duma representing the United Russia party. Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hašek publicly condemned both Ovechkin and Fetisov over the video, stating that by appearing in the ad they were supporting an imperialist war that will lead to the deaths of many Ukrainians and Russians, the Taipei Times reported.
A Nearly Decade-Long Political Alignment
Ovechkin's ties to Putin's political apparatus date back to November 2017, when he launched the “PutinTeam” movement on Instagram to build public backing for Putin's 2018 presidential campaign, drawing in fellow Russian NHL stars including Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk. Russian financial newspaper Vedomosti reported at the time that the initiative had originally been devised by the Kremlin-linked consulting firm IMA-Consulting, according to background compiled by Wikipedia. Ovechkin has previously said Putin is his president, that he is not in politics and is an athlete, and that he hopes the Russia-Ukraine war will end soon, adding, “Please, no more war; people must live in peace.”
The criticism directed at Ovechkin is not new. In early 2023, basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar publicly criticized Ovechkin's continued support for Putin, writing in his newsletter that fans should not celebrate or look up to an athlete whose political endorsements support regime violence in Ukraine, as reported by The Hill.
A Career at Its Historic Peak
The controversy arrives as Ovechkin, who turned 41 in September, opens training camp for his 22nd season with the franchise that drafted him first overall in 2004. He broke Wayne Gretzky's 31-year-old NHL regular-season scoring record on April 6, 2025, netting his 895th career goal, and has since climbed past 920 career regular-season goals — a milestone that has made him the top goal scorer in NHL history and a central reason the league and the Capitals have been reluctant to discipline him. Hoodline has previously covered his one-year deal to stay in Washington for what could be one of his final NHL seasons.
