Action movie star Steven Seagal has a lot of connections with Russia. The American-born actor was granted Russian citizenship in 2016, he received a Russian passport from the hands of Vladimir Putin himself.
Seagal, who has been an avid defender of Putin, once called him “one of the great living world leaders”, as he defended Putin’s leadership when at the time, Russia was in the process of annexing Crimea into its territory.
Seagal addressed the Ukraine war a day after he found himself at the center of another controversy. Podcaster Joe Rogan mistakenly reposted a meme of Seagal joining the Russian forces.
Screenshot shared to facebook and instagram depicts 69 year old action movie star with a machine gun, dressed in army apparel and donning sun glasses.
Seagal was once appointed by the Russian Foreign Ministry as a special envoy for humanitarian ties with the United States by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The goal was to “facilitate relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public, and youth exchanges,” according to the agency.
Months after receiving a Russian passport, the Ukrainian government protested Seagal’s actions by banning him from entering the country for five years, citing National security reasons.
With such a deep connection to the two countries, Seagal felt the need to express his opinion about the Ukraine-Russia conflict. In an interview with Fox News, Seagal had this to say:
“Most of us have friends and family in Russia & Ukraine,” The action star stated.
“I look at both as one family and really believe it is an outside entity spending huge sums of money on propaganda to provoke the two countries to be at odds with each other.”
“My prayers are that both countries will come to a positive, peaceful resolution where we can live & thrive together in peace,”.
Even though Seagal wishes for peace, tensions are arising as Putin recently ordered his officials to put nuclear forces on alert. The Russian military is on the verge of taking Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.