‘I’m Russian, and I support my country’: Washington Capitals star Ovechkin on why he appeared in United Russia’s campaign video
Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals winger, addressed his appearance in a United Russia campaign video, saying he supports his country and wishes everyone peace and love. Ovechkin told reporters:
About the video, I’m Russian. As soon as I’m done playing hockey, I’m probably going to, not probably, I’m going to stay there. I’m going to live there. My kids going to live there, my family. I’m for peace and love. I hope everything’s going to be okay. My home is Russia and DC is my second home. I have lots of friends [here]. I grew up here as a person and I love DC. This is my second home. So I hope everything’s going to be okay. And [as I said], peace and love for everybody.
One reporter asked what the invitation to appear in the party’s video looked like, and what might have happened had he refused.
“Well they asked me to do that. I [said] yes. It’s as simple as that,” the hockey player replied, adding that he had no hesitation about taking part.
Another reporter asked why Ovechkin had agreed to take part in the video.
“Well, [as] I said, I’m Russian and I support my country. [As] I said I’m for peace and love and I hope in the world it doesn’t matter who you are. I hope everybody understands. Everybody wants peace and everybody hopes everything’s going to be okay,” Ovechkin said.
United Russia released campaign videos for the top five candidates on its federal party list shortly before the election, with each candidate shown among supporters who, in the party’s words, “explains what ideals they stand for.” Ovechkin appeared in the video for Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, alongside Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state propaganda outlet RT, actor Vladimir Mashkov and other government supporters.
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