by Steven Seagal declared himself ‘one million percent’ Russian after receiving an award from President Vladimir Putin.
The former Hollywood star was awarded an Order of Friendship medal after supporting the country after the invasion of Ukraine.
Seagal pledged his allegiance to Russia during an event organized by the International Movement of Russians in Moscow on Monday (March 13).
The group is made up of non-Russian supporters of the country who want to shine a positive light on Russia in a bid to get EU sanctions against the country lifted.
During the event, he also accused the United States of spending “billions of dollars on disinformation, lies,” which he called an attempt to “discredit, demoralize and destroy Russia’s emerging morale.”
He said, “More than half of the people in America really love Russia and love Russians and know they’re being lied to.”
Seagal, who was born in Michigan, said, “My father was pure Russian, and I grew up in a pure Russian family, because my mother was completely immersed in Russian culture and had no parents.”
“So I grew up with Russian culture. I grew up loving Russia and loving everything I learned about it from an early age. And to me, I’m one million percent Russophile and one million percent Russian.
Seagal’s comments come as relations between Russia and the United States were branded “deplorable” after a Russian aircraft conducted what was described as a dangerous intercept of a US Air Force surveillance drone.
The Pentagon has shared footage of the collision, which occurred over the Black Sea.
The United States has given full support to Ukraine since the beginning of the war and has provided Ukraine with $34 billion in security aid since 2014.
During the last Congress, Democrat majorities in the US House of Representatives and Senate, aided by more establishment Republicans, poured in money to support the country.
Seagal had previously been appointed as a special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, acting as a go-between for Russian-American humanitarian relations.
Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship medal, introduced by former President Boris Yeltsin in 1994, for his “great contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation”.
Seagal also called Putin “one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest world leader alive today.”
