President Putin grants Russian citizenship to Hollywood star Steven Seagal

President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to Hollywood star Steven Seagal and, on the occasion, has expressed his hopes for improving relations between Moscow and Washington. He has personally granted a Russian passport to Steven Seagal and, while handing over the document, said - '..I want to congratulate you and express the hope that this is another, albeit small, gesture and it might be a sign of the gradual normalisation of relations between our countries...'
To this, Steven replied in Russian - 'Spasibo bolshoye' (thank you very much).
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 26 November 2016.

It seems the Kremlin had been discussing this citizenship for "quite a while". Seagal (64) has Russian heritage and is a regular visitor to the country. He has been a vocal supporter of Mr Putin, who earlier this month signed an order granting his Russian citizenship.
Incidentally, in the 1990s, Seagal had opened a branch of the restaurant chain Planet Hollywood in Moscow. Ever since then, he has been since participating in a number of publicity campaigns for Russian companies. As per some media reports, he could acquire a stake in Russian IT company Galaxy.
Seagal shot to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s with films such as Under Siege and Above the Law and, has remained hugely popular in eastern Europe - he was granted Serbian citizenship in January.
Steven Seagal is not the first celebrity to be awarded citizenship by the Kremlin. Erlier, in 2013, it was given to French actor Gerard Depardieu. Then, in 2015, it was US boxer Roy Jones Jr.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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