School, college and other closings for Monday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Russia's President Vladimir Putin issued a presidential decree Thursday that grants Russian citizenship to action-movie star Steven Seagal, fulfilling a desire that Seagal spoke about as recently as September. Putin and Seagal are longtime friends.

Putin and Seagal share a passion for martial arts: Seagal is an expert in aikido, and Putin is an expert in judo. They've appeared together at martial arts demonstrations and official events, including last year's Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.


In recent years, Seagal has emerged as an unlikely conduit between U.S. and Russian officials. Back in 2013, 

members of a U.S. congressional delegation

 said Seagal "opened some doors" for them as they researched anti-terrorism issues — and it later emerged that in the same year, 

Putin suggested making Seagal an honorary consul

 in California and Arizona, a position that could have allowed him to work as a go-between for Putin and President Obama.
Today, 

 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying of Seagal:


Seagal isn't the first Western celebrity to cozy up to Russia.


"Seagal follows other Western celebrities with an affinity for Putin's machismo in receiving Russian citizenship," 

 reports, "such as fighter Roy Jones Jr. and French actor Gerard Depardieu."
If all this is too much to wrap your head around, it might help to see the language of the decree itself, at 

. It's a no-nonsense decree, naming Seagal and listing his date of birth (April 10, 1952) and bestowing citizenship in the Russian Federation upon him.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Arts and Culture

In recent years, the Russian president reportedly sought to use the movie star as an intermediary with President Obama.

Steven Seagal is now a citizen of Russia, courtesy of Putin

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox