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Steven Seagal expressed his unwavering support for Russian President Vladimir Putin at a restaurant in Moscow on Sunday. The actor was celebrating his 70th birthday with Putin’s allies whom the Out of Justice actor called his “family” and “friends.” Russian elites who have been targeted by Western sanctions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were present at the event held on April 10.
A video of Steven Seagal’s speech at the event has gone viral on social media. The 70-year-old actor was seen making a toast by saying:
“Each and everyone one of you, you are my family and my friends. And I love all of you, and we stand together, through thick and through thin.”
A few guests who were at the event included Vladimir Soloviev, a television presenter who has openly supported Putin’s invasion and Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia’s leading pro-Kremlin media moguls who is also the editor-in-chief of RT.
Both the guests have been placed on EU’s sanction list. Soloviev had two of his villas near Lake Como seized by Italian authorities. One of them was set on fire by protestors in April as well.
Steven Seagal’s friendship with Vladimir Putin explored
Seagal and Putin have known each other for several years. In 2003, Seagal attended the Moscow Film Festival, where it was reported that the two bonded over their love for martial arts. Seagal has been practicing aikido for years, which Putin is believed to have studied. The two have also attended numerous sporting events together.
In 2016, Steven Seagal was granted Russian citizenship after vocalizing his support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Segal’s father’s side of the family is primarily Russian, and they are natives of the city of Vladivostok. The actor has friends and family scattered across Russia. Speaking of attaining a Russian passport, he said in 2016:
“Despite the unfortunate propaganda going on, I remain fully committed to work tirelessly towards this end, and I am tremendously grateful for this opportunity.”
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, told Sputnik News that Seagal was eager to attain citizenship in the country. Peskov said:
“This [was his] desire, he had really applied. He had been really persistent for a long time and been asking to grant him citizenship. He is actually renown for his quite warm feelings toward our country.”
In 2018, Moscow appointed Steven Seagal as a special envoy to promote relations between the States and Russia in a “humanitarian sphere.”
In 2021, Seagal was able to join A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth, which is a pro-Kremlin party.
Though the actor has vocally supported Russia for years, it seems like Seagal has called for peace between Ukraine and Russia and claimed that they were “one family.” He added:
“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.”
Seagal was banned from entering Ukraine in 2015 after attaining Russian citizenship. Such actions were taken after he was identified as a threat to national security.
