Ovechkin held a news conference on Feb. 25 intended to distance himself from Putin and support for the Russian invasion. “I am not in politics. Like, I’m an athlete,” he said. He added, without mentioning Putin, “Please, no more war.”
Instead of calming his detractors, Ovechkin found himself under criticism from supporters of the war in his home country and opponents of it in the rest of the world. This resulted in a severe backlash on Ovechkin’s social media accounts from Russian supporters, and he was advised not to change his Instagram profile picture because it would not go over well in Russia.
That is why Ovechkin’s profile picture, showing him with Putin, on his
verified Instagram account, which has 1.6 million followers, remained as of Wednesday afternoon. There was a plan to change the picture to a symbol for world peace after the news conference, but since Ovechkin’s wife, two children and parents are currently in Russia, it was decided the photo of him and Putin would stay.