He might not have the screen presence he once did, but Steven Seagal still seems to have friends in interesting places. Russia has just granted honorary citizenship to its regular visitor…
With all eyes fixed firmly on the controversial; campaigning and highly surprising results of the US election, it may have escaped some people’s notice of extraordinary things happening in Russia… with 80s action star Steven Seagal being granted Russian citizenship by Vladamir Putin.
The 64 year old star, still making movies – even if he’s not quite as spry as in his heyday – is no stranger to Russia having visited the country many times, even being seen with Putin at various martial-arts events and speaking up, on a political level, in favour of the country’s policies. Both men also share a passionate interest in the martial-arts and that friendship and partnering on a number of projects has, maybe surprisingly allowed the star to act as something of a conduit for diplomatic ties from time to time.
Seagal also has family history in the region, his grandmother was from Vladivostok in the far east of Russia. It’s also not the only country for which the actor has honorary nationality. He was also granted Serbian nationality after he began work to set up a martial arts school in Belgrade.
