Alexander Ovechkin cannot enter Latvia. Foreign Minister Baiba Braže signed the decision on Thursday, adding the Washington Capitals captain to the country’s list of personae non gratae alongside Umar Kremlev. The ban is indefinite and rests on Section 104, Paragraph 3, Clause 1 of Latvia’s Immigration Law.
The trigger was a 32-second campaign video for United Russia, Vladimir Putin’s political party. Ovechkin stands silently behind Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who says to the camera: “When we are united, we are invincible.” The country’s parliamentary elections run from Friday through Sunday.
The clip also features retired NHL defenseman Viacheslav “Slava” Fetisov and Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russian state broadcaster RT.
Ovechkin stakes his ground as Russian
Ovechkin faced the cameras at the Capitals’ media day on Thursday, the same day Latvia’s decision was made public.
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“I’m Russian, and I support my country,” he told reporters, according to Al Jazeera.
“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 is going to be OK in the world.”
He also spoke openly about his plans after hockey.
“As soon as I’m done playing hockey, I’m probably going to stay there. I’m gonna live there, my kids gonna live there, family.”
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The Capitals have said Ovechkin was approached during the offseason in Moscow.
“His focus and ours is on the season ahead and the continued impact he makes on the ice and in our city,” team spokesman Sergey Kocharov said.
Congressman Wilson wants the NHL to answer
The Latvian decision landed on top of political pressure that had been building in Washington all week. South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson wrote to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Wednesday, calling the appearance shameful and asking the league to open a review.
In the letter, Wilson wrote that “actively participating in campaign material for Putin’s oppressive party while serving as the captain of an NHL franchise raises serious questions,” and asked the league to clarify what policies govern political appearances by active players and to confirm that neither the NHL nor the Capitals endorses Putin’s party.
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The NHL has not publicly responded to the letter or to Latvia’s ban. No disciplinary action has been announced against Ovechkin.
Ovechkin has spent years openly aligned with Putin’s political sphere, launching the “Putin Team” social media project in 2017 and now standing shoulder to shoulder with the foreign minister who runs Moscow’s diplomacy during the war in Ukraine. Latvia, which shares a land border with Russia, is one of the most vocal European critics of that war.
Russia’s State Duma vote opens on Friday and closes on Sunday. Ovechkin is scheduled to be back on Capitals ice for training camp in the meantime.
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