Alex Ovechkin, the National Hockey League’s all-time leading goal scorer, has appeared in a campaign advertisement for United Russia, the political party supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of the new hockey season.

Images published by the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti show Ovechkin alongside prominent pro-Putin figures, including Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov—who leads United Russia’s parliamentary candidate list—and Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, the Russian state-controlled media outlet.

Ovechkin, 40, has a longstanding public association with Putin. In 2017, he founded the social movement Putin Team, aiming to unite Russians who are proud of their country and seek to strengthen it. He has praised Putin for his leadership qualities, citing the president’s “trust in and respect for his people, his fairness [and] righteousness, and the fact that he really cares.”

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ovechkin’s support has appeared more measured. At the time, he expressed hope for a quick end to the conflict and a peaceful future, though he reaffirmed Putin as “my president.” The war has since resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Ovechkin has spent his entire NHL career with the Washington Capitals, who selected him first overall in the 2004 draft. He signed a one-year contract extension with the team in July. During the 2025 season, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky’s longstanding record by scoring his 895th career goal, setting a new NHL all-time scoring benchmark that many experts had believed would remain unbroken.

The campaign advertisement featuring Ovechkin is the latest indication of his continued alignment with Putin and United Russia amidst ongoing domestic and international controversies facing Russia.