Russian President Vladimir V. Putin congratulated hockey participant Alex Ovechkin on Monday for breaking the NHL goalscoring document.
Washington Capitals captain Ovechkin, 39, scored his 895th profession aim in a match towards New York Islanders on Sunday night. It broke information by Wayne Gretzky, who had been standing for 26 years.
In an announcement on Monday, Putin praised Ovechkin, He began as an expert hockey participant in Moscow due to what he referred to as “essential achievements.” “The true explanation for followers’ celebrations in Russia and past.”
The feat of sports activities and feedback from the Kremlin shine a brand new highlight on Ovechkin’s previous assist for Putin and Hockeystor’s stance on the struggle in Ukraine.
Ovechkin, who has been enjoying for the Washington Capitals since 2005, has lived in america for the previous 20 years. Nonetheless, his Instagram profile image exhibits him together with Putin, and in 2017 he launched a social media motion referred to as #putinteam a number of months earlier than the Russian election.
The hockey star raised an eyebrow in 2022 when he didn’t situation a full-scale accusation of Russian Ukraine’s full-scale invasion. When requested about it at a press convention, Ovechkin mentioned, “Please, there is not any extra struggle.” In response to questions on whether or not he nonetheless helps Putin, Ovechkin mentioned, “He is my president,” however added, “I am not politics. I am an athlete.”
In his post-game touch upon Sunday, Ovechkin celebrated the achievements with gratitude to his fellow gamers, saying, “Russia, we did that!”
On Monday, Russian state tv garnered “a reward on either side of the Atlantic” the athletes as “a Russian hockey participant who made our delight, historical past.”
Professional-Putin specialists shortly seized Ovechkin’s achievements after record-setting objectives.
“Ovechkin has proven many occasions that he’s not afraid and embarrassed that he’s Russian, even when he’s bullied for being Russian,” says Sergei Markov, a political scientist with ties to the Kremlin. I wrote it on social media. “That is how everybody in Russia is grateful to Ovechkin and the respect he has gained not solely in hockey however on the earth.”
Ovechkin has not competed internationally in Russia since 2019, and the Russian nationwide workforce has been banned from world competitors by the Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation for the reason that full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Conflict is a controversial situation in worldwide sports activities, and Russian athletes are below strain to sentence the struggle.
