Putin honors American actor and Russian citizen Steven Seagal with Order of Friendship

Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to honor the American actor Steven Seagal with the state Order of Friendship. The reason for the decoration is Seagal’s “significant contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation.”

Steven Seagal became a Russian citizen in 2016. In 2018, he began to work as the Foreign Ministry’s special representative in the U.S. and Japan. Since 2021, he is a member of the Just Russia — for Truth party.

Seagal supports Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After visiting the Donbas last August, he gave an interview to the propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, justifying the invasion with the “existential threat” to Russia from the Ukrainian “Nazis.”