The US actor and former Hollywood star Steven Seagal has been a staunch supporter of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin for decades. He has expressed this most recently by headlining the pro-war festival Guitars in Formation in Russia.
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Seagal was awarded the 'Order of Friendship' medal by Putin in Russia on 27 February 2023. In March, he attended a founding event for the International Movement of Russians in Moscow. At the event, he described himself as '1 million percent Russian'.
He then travelled to the city of Samara in southwestern Russia, to perform at the Guitars in Formation festival on 6 May. Seagal was reportedly welcomed on stage with a crowd cheering his name.
Steven Seagal gifts Vladimir Putin a guitar
Seagal told the crowd that the guitar he held had particular cultural significance, according to Newsweek. He said in English:
Maybe many of you don't recognize this. This is an old, old Soviet guitar.
He paused so a translator could repeat his words in Russian, before saying:
It's been fully restored. And this is going into Vladimir's museum forever.
Seagal then signed the guitar and it was taken backstage. He used another guitar for his performance.
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Actor Steven Seagal is expanding his Donbass documentary to include Russian and Ukrainian perspectives in the greater conflict in Ukraine.
— AF Post (@AFpost) May 6, 2023
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Steven Seagal's relationship with Vladimir Putin
In 2016, Seagal was granted Russian citizenship by Putin. In 2018, he was appointed the humanitarian representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in the United States and Japan.
Seagal officially supports Russia's war in Ukraine. In August 2022, he visited the Donetsk region of Ukraine to pledge his support to the leader of the pro-Russian separatists, Denis Pushilin.
In October 2022, he also released a video on the occasion of Putin's 70th birthday in which he described the Russian President as 'one of the greatest leaders in the world'.
Sources used:
Newsweek: 'Steven Seagal Headlines Pro-War Festival in Russia
CBS News: 'Putin gives Russian state award to actor Steven Seagal for "humanitarian work"'
