The Russian Federation has announced that it has granted citizenship to the American actor, film producer, screenwriter, film director and martial artist, Steven Seagal.
64-year-old Seagal has been labeled by the American media, a friend of President Vladimir Putin, on many occasions. According to a Russian news report, Putin signed an order, giving the prestigious honor to Seagal on Nov. 3, 2016. The order from the Kremlin said: “Naturalize in Russia Seagal Steven Frederic, born April 10, 1952 in the United States of America.”
According to Voice of America, when Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine during the political turmoil in 2014, Seagal openly supported the actions of the country. It is said he described Putin as one of the great living world leaders, for saving Crimea from Western interests. A keen guitarist, Seagal reportedly played a concert in Crimea the same year the region was annexed by Russia. Seagal is of Russian heritage. It is said his grandmother was from Vladivostok, in Russia’s far east.
A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who broke the news to reporters, said Seagal had repeatedly requested Russian citizenship from the country’s officials. Peskov said that “He is well known for his warm feelings towards our country and has never hidden them.”
The BBC reports that Putin proposed to United States officials in 2013, that Seagal be made an honorary consul of Russia in California and Arizona. According to Buzzfeed, the proposal would have made Seagal a potential intermediary between the White House and the Kremlin. However, it is said United States officials turned down the proposal, without giving a tangible explanation.
In the past, photos of Seagal and Putin have appeared many times in the American media. It is said Seagal is a regular visitor to Russia. This September, Seagal was reported to have visited Kamchatka and Sakhalin.
In 2013, both Putin and Seagal were seen at a school near Moscow, launching a campaign to publicize physical fitness through martial arts and judo. President Putin has trained in the martial arts since childhood. Seagal and Putin were used as faces of the fitness project in the country.
This isn’t the first time Putin has approved Russian citizenship to a famous personality. In 2013, he awarded citizenship to the French actor, Gerard Depardieu. In 2015, he again approved citizenship for American boxer Roy Jones Jr., who held several of his fights in Russia.
This isn’t the first time Seagal, too, has been granted honorary citizenship. In January this year, Serbia granted him citizenship after he offered to set up a martial arts school in the country.
Seagal’s action movies include Under Siege and Flight of Fury. He also starred in his own American reality TV show, Steven Seagal: Lawman.
When Seagal’s Russian citizenship status was made public, many of his fans took to social media to congratulate him. Seagal himself seems to show no interest in social media, but his fans seized on the opportunity to mock the political contest of the United States between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, urging Seagal to move to Russia immediately, saying that the two presidential candidates are unfit to lead the United States. Others have also said the United States is too corrupt for their icon to remain their citizen.
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