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North Korea has Dennis Rodman. Russia has Steven Seagal.
The “Under Siege” actor was awarded the Order of Friendship Medal for his continued support of President Vladimir Putin even during the invasion of Ukraine. Seagal accused the US government of “spending billions of dollars on disinformation, lies” in the media “to try to discredit, demoralize and destroy Russia’s developing morale” at an event organized by the Russian International Movement in Moscow. Independent).
“More than half of the people in America really love Russia and the Russians and know they’re being lied to,” Seagal said. “My father was pure Russian, and I grew up in a pure Russian household because my mother was completely immersed in Russian culture and had no parents. So I grew up with Russian culture.”
The Michigan native continued: “I grew up loving Russia and everything I learned about it from a very early age. And for me, I’m a million percent Russophile and a million percent Russian.”
Seagal was named the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Russian-American Humanitarian Relations in 2018. This year’s Friendship Medal was intended to celebrate Seagal’s “great contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation,” as Putin said.
In 2020, Seagal recorded a birthday message for Putin saying, “Today is President Putin’s birthday. I just think we’re living in very, very difficult times right now. He’s one of the greatest leaders in the world and one of the greatest presidents in the world. And I really hope and pray that he gets the support, love and respect they need. And that all the trials going on now will soon be over and we will live in a world of peace.”
“For anyone to think that Vladimir Putin had anything to do with deciding the election or that the Russians have that kind of technology is silly,” Seagal also said. “And that kind of propaganda is really a diversion … so that the people of the United States of America don’t really see what’s going on.”
Seagal was previously banned from Ukraine, deemed a threat to national security.