After quietly answering questions about his support for Putin’s agenda in a press conference, Alex Ovechkin said, “Let’s do hockey questions.” I spoke with him after and asked Russia questions until he ended the interview. “I wanted to know more about the process of filming the ad. When did you shoot it?” AO: “I think three weeks ago.” “Did you tell the team you were doing it?” AO: “No.” “Were you surprised by the backlash?” AO: “I'm surprised, but it is nothing you can change right now. I'm Russian, I'm gonna live there when I'm done. My kids gonna be there. My family's gonna be there, you know, I support my country. That's it.” “I think the reason for the backlash being bigger this time is because of what Lavrov says about countries bringing “the sword” to Russia. When I talk to experts about that, it mimics messaging Russians get that says Ukraine is responsible for being invaded by Russia. So you standing behind him, as he says that, feels to people like a pro war stance.” AO: “Well, I don't think it's a pro war. I think it's just support what's happening in Russia. I want the peace and love for everybody. It doesn't matter who you are, American, Russian, or Ukrainian. Like, I have lots of friends who are Ukrainians, and I hope everything's gonna be good, and everything's gonna be done soon.” “It'll be done soon if Putin stops the invasion. Like, that's how it ends.” AO: “Well, I'm not in politics. I can’t say who's right and who's wrong.” “In that larger group, there were about 30 people with you, One of the people is Maria Lvova Belova. She's got an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for abducting Ukrainian children.” AO: “I don't know who that is.” “Okay. Can you understand why a congressperson says the NHL shouldn't allow you to participate because you support this regime, and this country is spending billions of dollars helping fight Russia? What's your reaction to that?” AO: “Well, everybody have their own opinion, right? I'm not a politician, I'm an athlete, and, how I said, I'm gonna live there when I'm done playing. I support my country. Like, I'm Russian.” “You would support it no matter what?” AO: “Well, I'm gonna live there, yeah.” “So if they're responsible for a genocide, you would support the genocide?” AO: “What do you mean, genocide?” [Media relations official translates ‘genocide’.] AO: [Groans.] “Oh. I would say, like, I'm, I hope it's not gonna, it's not gonna be like that.” [Ovechkin walks away] espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/4996…