Alex Ovechkin’s Instagram profile shows a photo of the Washington Capitals star grinning and flashing a peace sign as he stands next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While Ovechkin has been under public pressure for the past two weeks to replace this photo, taken in the Kremlin after Russia won the 2014 World Cup, this could endanger the life of the Ovechkin family, reports the New York Times, cite unnamed sources. .
ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan, also quoting unnamed sources, reported that the capitals had asked Ovechkin to either edit his Instagram profile photo or deactivate his account, but Ovechkin declined, citing concerns about his family’s safety.
Since its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has introduced new laws that allow imprisonment of up to 15 years for those who even describe the conflict in Ukraine as war. Putin on Wednesday described pro-Western Russians as “scum and traitors.”
Andrei Soldatov does not believe that Ovechkin or his family will be in danger if he changes his social media profile photo.
Soldatov, an expert on Russia’s surveillance culture and co-author of The Red Web: The battle between Russia’s digital dictators and the new online revolutionariesargues that the potential risk for Ovechkin is flooded.
“I’m a little tired of the argument that it’s too dangerous,” Soldatov wrote in an email to TSN. “He’s a celebrity, and for Christ’s sake, Russia is not (at least not yet) Stalin’s Soviet Union. We have thousands of people taking to the streets almost every day to protest. My friends and colleagues are rising. their voice against the war, and they are not afraid, though it is much more dangerous for them.
Nikolai Petrov, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, a research institute on foreign policy in London, and an expert in the Kremlin decision-making process, agrees that Ovechkin and his family have unlikely consequences.
“I do not mean if Ovechkin [does] not to blame Putin for the war, “Petrov said.
Ovechkin is one of Russia’s most famous athletes. On Instagram, where he has posted many support messages for Putin over the years, he has 1.6 million followers.
Soldatov, based in Moscow, said Ovechkin’s promiscuity would help protect him.
“I think the worst thing he gets is that he could lose some contracts in Russia – if he had one,” Soldatov said. “We have some public figures who speak out against the war, and at least now I do not see any massive hate campaigns being launched against them by Russian media. Ovechkin risks losing his support base in Russia, but that’s all.
A Washington Capitals spokesman said neither the team nor Ovechkin were available for comment.
Predicting how Putin might react to public criticism, or even to a refreshed social media page, by Ovechkin is a cup of tea.
Military and political analysts have been fighting for years to decipher Putin’s speeches and predict his next moves. However, experts who have studied both the country’s longtime president and the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB’s main successor agency, are divided over the potential threat to Ovechkin and his family.
Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a research group in Moscow co-founded by the Russian Foreign Ministry that advised the Kremlin on domestic and foreign policy, said no one could say for sure what could happen to Ovechkin if he changed his mind. Instagram photo or post against the war in Ukraine.
“We have entered unrecognized waters and it is virtually impossible to assess personal risks associated with taking a clear political position,” Kortunov wrote in an email to TSN. “Alex Ovechkin is a celebrity and his side could be closely monitored. The implications of a potential anti-Putin statement by Alex are difficult to predict.
Statements could also create problems for Ovechkin’s father-in-law, Kirill Shubsky, who helps run the Russian company Khimkompozit, which makes advanced materials for boatbuilding, Kortunov said. Khimkompozit, which was sanctioned by the European Union in 2014, is a subsidiary of Rostec, a Russian state-owned defense industry company.
“I can also imagine that Ovechkin’s son-in-law does not want to cause problems by openly criticizing Putin,” Kortunov said. “In this case, his family ties are not an asset, but a liability.”
The New York Times reports that Ovechkin’s wife and children are currently in Russia.
Ovechkin and Putin have had a close relationship for almost a decade. One of Ovechkin’s first public statements of support for the Russian president came in 2014 after Russia invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea.
Ovechkin can be seen on his Instagram account with a sign reading #SaveChildrenFromFascism, a hashtag used by pro-Russian groups in Ukraine to gather support for Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Ovechkin wrote in the post: “Our grandparents saw the horrors of fascism! We will not allow it in our generation !!”
In 2016, Ovechkin received a wedding gift from Putin and a telegram from the Russian president was read out at the reception, USA Today reported. In 2017, Ovechkin campaigned for Putin, starting what Ovechkin called a social movement known as the “Putin Team”.
“Be a part of this team,” Ovechkin wrote at the time in an Instagram post. “To me it’s a privilege, it’s like the feeling when you put on the jersey of the Russian team, knowing that the whole country is rooting for you.”
At a news conference on February 25, a day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Ovechkin was asked if he still supported Putin.
“I’m Russian, right?” Ovechkin said. “You know, it’s not in my hands.
Asked about his support for Putin, Ovechkin replied: “He is my president, but I am not in politics. I am an athlete.”
At this point, Ovechkin is one of two Russian NHL players to comment publicly on the war.
Calgary Flames defender Nikita Zadorov, whose family is in Russia, posted a Ukrainian flag emoji with the words “No War” and “STOP IT !!!” on Instagram.
Zadorov is not the only Russian to have spoken out, though Russian police have arrested thousands who took part in protests against the war.
“There are quite a few high-profile Russian celebrities and sports figures, TV stars and musicians who have spoken,” said Brian Taylor, a professor at Syracuse University and author of The code of Putinism. I do not see how the regime would find it useful to follow these people or their families.
On February 24, Ivan Urgant, Russia’s most popular talk show host, posted a pitch-black square on his Instagram account, followed by more than 10 million people, alongside the headline “Fear and Pain. No to War” in Russian.
Urgent is now in Israel with his family, where he posted a photo of himself on March 11 with the caption: “Do not panic. They will let me go on vacation, but I will be back soon.
Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev, whose family is in Russia, wrote “No War Away” after a match on February 26 on the lens of a television camera.
Some high-profile Russian athletes may be forced to condemn Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine if they want to continue competing.
The London Times reported that UK Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston told a hearing on Tuesday that the British government would only allow single athletes from Russia or Belarus to compete in events in the UK if they were assured that the individual athletes would not compete with the Russian or Belarus states or their leaders.
“We need assurances that they [competitors] are not supporters of Vladimir Putin, “Huddleston told the hearing.” We are considering what demands we need. [to put in place] to try to get insurances along these lines.
Daniil Medvedev, the world number one men’s tennis player, may be banned from Wimbledon unless he gives a public assurance that he does not support Putin, The Times reported. Medvedev has publicly stated that he wants to see “peace” in Ukraine, although he has not directly criticized Putin or the Russian invasion.
Sergey Sanovich, a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University who is pursuing the Kremlin’s free speech, said he believed the potential risks to Ovechkin were exaggerated.
“A friend of mine, a pregnant lady, posted her opposition to the war in Ukraine on Facebook last week and received a visit from the police and received a fine,” Sanovich said in an interview with TSN.
“We think Ovechkin will be in danger of changing an image? I really doubt that … people like [Ovechkin] never take responsibility. The idea that Ovechkin is not political and that he says he’s just an athlete is so hypocritical that it can make you laugh.
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