【Hindi Archives】

Ya know,Hindi Archives the Russian government's pulled a lot of shit on the United States lately, but I did notexpect them to reveal that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated the drafting of Russian star Alexander Ovechkin to the Washington Capitals back in 2004 all so Putin could tap the hockey man to lead a pro-Putin propaganda effort from inside the U.S. capital.

Is that what happened? Can you prove that's notwhat happened? I'm just saying.

The real news is this: Ovechkin really is a Russian star for the Washington Capitals. As you can tell from the photo above, he really does occasionally pal around with Putin. And by posting to Instagram on Thursday, he really did seem to launch some sort of pro-Putin social media movement ahead of the Russian presidential "election" coming up in March.

Личные награды и призы – все это здорово, но в хоккее, как и в любом деле, для победы важнее команда. Только команда способна переломить ход игры, сделать невозможное. В последнее время в западной прессе я встречаю сочетание Putin’s team, то есть команда Путина. И знаете, мне очень понравилось это определение. Лично я готов быть частью такой команды. Я никогда не скрывал своего отношения к нашему Президенту, всегда открыто его поддерживая. Я уверен, что нас, поддерживающих Владимира Путина, много! Так давайте объединимся и покажем всем сильную и сплоченную Россию! Сегодня я хочу объявить о том, что создаю общественное движение под названием Putin Team. Быть частью такой команды – для меня гордость, это похоже на ощущение, когда ты надеваешь майку сборной России, зная, что за тебя болеет вся страна. #putinteam

A post shared by Alexander Ovechkin (@aleksandrovechkinofficial) on Nov 2, 2017 at 9:07am PDT

The Washington Posttranslated the post, and here's the most relevant bit:

"I never hid my relationship with our president, always openly supported him.

I’m certain that there are many of us that support Vladimir Putin. Let’s unite and show everyone a strong and united Russia. Today, I want to announce a social movement in the name of Putin Team. Be a part of this team – to me it’s a privilege, it’s like the feeling of when you put on the jersey of the Russian team, knowing that the whole country is rooting for you.”

Ohkayyyyyyyy then.

Just so we're all on the same page, Putin has sat at the helm of the Russian government longer than anyone since Joseph Stalin, and, according to Human Rights Watch, "is more repressive than it has ever been in the post-Soviet era."

Under his watch, gay men have allegedly been tortured and murdered in Chechnya, and his government recently eased up on penalties for domestic abuse. Human Rights Watch described the Russian government's crackdown on dissent as "increasingly vicious."