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The decree said the 70-year-old star of action
films such as "Under Siege" had been given Russia's Order of
Friendship. There was no immediate reaction from Seagal.
The decree mentioned Seagal's work as a special representative
of Russia's Foreign Ministry for humanitarian ties with the
United States and Japan.
The U.S.-born actor and martial arts practitioner has worked in
Japan and has long admired Putin, from whom he received a
Russian passport in 2016.
Seagal, a frequent visitor to Russia, backed Moscow's annexation
of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 as "very reasonable", joined
a pro-Kremlin party in 2021, and visited a Russian-controlled
part of eastern Ukraine last summer, where he met with a
Russian-backed separatist leader.
Ukraine in 2017 banned Seagal from entering for five years on
national security grounds.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
(Photo: Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L)
shakes hands with U.S. actor Steven Seagal during a meeting at
the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, November 25, 2016.
Sputnik/Kremlin/Alexei Druzhinin via REUTERS.)
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