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North Korea has Dennis Rodman. Russia has Steven Seagal.
The ‘Under Siege’ actor received an Order of Friendship medal after consistently supporting 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 “discredit, demoralize and destroy Russia’s emerging morale” at an event held by the International Movement of Russians in Moscow (via The Independent).
“More than half of the people in America really love Russia and love Russians and know they are being lied to,” Seagal said. “My father was purely Russian and I grew up in a purely Russian household, because my mother was completely immersed in Russian culture and she had no parents. So I grew up with the Russian culture.”
The Michigan native continued, “I grew up loving Russia and everything I learned about it from a young age. And to me, I am a million percent Russophile and a million percent Russian.”
Seagal was appointed Russian Foreign Ministry Special Representative for Russian-American Humanitarian Relations in 2018. This year’s Order of Friendship medal honored 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 is one of the greatest world leaders and one of the greatest presidents in the world. And I really hope and pray that he gets the support, love and respect he needs. And that all the trials that are going on now will soon be over and we will live in a world of peace.”
“Anyone who thinks that Vladimir Putin has anything to do with running the election, or even that the Russians have that kind of technology, is stupid,” Seagal also said. “And this kind of propaganda is really a distraction…so that the people of the United States of America won’t really see what’s happening.”
Seagal was previously banned from Ukraine and considered a threat to national security.