Putin congratulates Alex Ofkkin on the break of the NHL record

President Vladimir F. congratulated. Putin from Russia, Hockey Alex Ofkkin, on Monday, to break the record in scoring goals in NHL.

Mr. OVECHKIN, 39, Capitals Commander Washington, His professional goal scored 895 Sunday evening in a match against the residents of New York Island. He broke the record set by Wayne Gretzki She stood for 26 years.

In a statement on Monday, Mr. Putin praised Mr. Ofkkin, Which started as a professional hockey player in Moscow, for the “massive achievement” that he called “A real reason to celebrate the masses in Russia and beyond.”

I have given the sporting feat – comments from Kremlin – highlighting Mr. Ovechkin’s Previous support for Mr. Putin And on the hockey star’s position on the war in Ukraine.

Mr. Ovechkin, who has played with Capitals in Washington since 2005, has lived in the United States for the past two decades. But the image of his profile on Instagram showed him with Mr. Putin, and in 2017, he started a The social media movement is called #PutinteamMonths before the Russian elections.

The hockey star also raised the eyebrows in 2022 when he failed to issue an explicit condemnation of Russia’s extensive invasion of Ukraine. When asked about this at a press conference, Mr. Ovechkin said, “Please, no more war.” In response to a question about whether Mr. Putin is still supporting, Mr. Ovichkin said, “He is my head,” But he added, “I am not in politics. I am sportsman.”

In the post -game observations on Sunday, Mr. Ovechkin celebrated the achievement of a set of gratitude to his teammates – and said: “Russia, we have done that!”

On Monday, Russian government television celebrated the athlete as “our pride, a Russian Haki player who has been a history”, drawing “admiration on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Critics supporting quick arrival in seizing the achievements of Mr. Ovechkin after the score goal.

“Ovechkin has several times has shown that he is not afraid or ashamed of being Russian, even when the Russians are intimidated by being Russian,” Sergey Marcov, a political world related to links to the Kremlin, Books on social media. “This is something else that everyone in Russia is grateful to Ovickin, as well as the respect he won in the world – not just for hockey.”

Mr. Ovechkin has not competed for Russia at the international level since 2019, and the Russian national team has been banned from global competitions by the International Hockey Federation for ice since the full invasion of Ukraine.

The war was a controversial issue in international sport, where Russian athletes are under pressure to condemn the war.