During a sumptuous supper in Moscow on Sunday to mark his 70th birthday, American actor Steven Seagal was seen expressing support for close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On April 10, the movie star was seen giving a speech at the event, which was attended by several Russian elites who have been targeted by Western sanctions as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to the Financial Times, one of Russia’s prominent pro-Kremlin media moguls, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, was in attendance.
Standing next to Seagal was Russian state television host Vladimir Soloviev, who has openly praised Putin’s incursion and accused Britain of organizing the awful pictures of civilian murders in Bucha.
Both have been sanctioned by the EU in response to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
‘Each and every one of you, you are my family and friends,’ Steven Seagal stated to the pro-Putin audience, dressed in his trademark black shirt and yellow-tinted glasses. And I love you all, and we’ll stick together through thick and thin.’
Despite the West’s unanimity in condemning the invasion of Ukraine, Seagal, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, could find himself in hot water.
The American actor, who has been a long-time buddy of Putin’s, was granted a Russian passport in 2016 and appointed Russia’s special ambassador to the United States in 2018.
The two have been seen together on several occasions and are assumed to have met through their shared interest in martial arts.
In a February interview with Fox News Digital, Seagal called Putin “one of the best world leaders, if not the greatest world leader, alive today,” and added that propaganda from a “outside organization” set Russia and Ukraine against each other.
He told Fox News Digital, ‘Most of us have friends and family in Russia and Ukraine.’
‘I see both countries as one family, and I truly feel that some outside force is spending vast quantities of money on propaganda to cause the two countries to be at odds.’