President slammed for praising war criminal: Dominik Hašek berates Trump’s welcome of Putin.

Dominik Hašek, Former NHL goaltender and outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine, has ignited a new debate, this time over the high-profile summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska which was held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. This marked Putin’s first U.S. visit in over a decade and his most prominent Western appearance since the Ukraine invasion in 2022. The discussion focuses on the controversy surrounding Putin’s arrival.

In a heated post on social media, Hašek criticized the welcome ceremony that included a military honor guard and red-carpet reception. The Former NHL goaltender wrote, “I will never forget in my life that on August 15, 2025, American soldiers rolled out the red carpet for the greatest criminal of the 21st century”. He further denounced Trump for his jovial interactions with Putin, which he views as an unacceptable display of respect.

Putin’s elaborate arrival sparked outrage among critics due to its attempt to portray diplomacy. No peace agreement or ceasefire resulted from the meeting which led observers to question if the elaborate reception merely legitimized Moscow’s actions without achieving significant progress.

Hašek has continually used his platform to call out perceived Western complacency in confronting Russian aggression. He labeled Putin as “the greatest criminal of the 21st century”, echoing the frustrations of those who view symbolic gestures such as red carpets and photo ops as undermining the suffering of Ukrainians. His comments have highlighted the conflict between the pageantry of diplomacy and the moral outrage of war.