Russia names Steven Seagal as humanitarian envoy to US
Moscow has appointed American actor Steven Seagal as a special envoy, dealing with humanitarian links to the US, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
“The task is to promote the further development of Russian-American relations in the humanitarian sphere, including interaction in the fields of culture, art, public and youth exchanges and more,” the ministry said.
Seagal’s fame peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the US with films such as Under Siege and Above the Law, but he is still hugely popular in Eastern Europe and was granted Russian and Serbian citizenships in 2016.
He met Russian President Vladimir Putin, a fellow martial arts fan. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Seagal called Mr Putin “one of the great living world leaders”, and performed with his blues band in the annexed Black Sea peninsula.
The actor, 66, was at the Fifa World Cup in Russia last month and was also among the guests when Mr Putin was sworn in for a fourth term in May.
Seagal is also among the Hollywood figures accused of sexual misconduct during the “MeToo” campaign. The Russian ministry said he would not be paid for his envoy role.
Ties between Russia and the US are at a low ebb over long-standing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, which Moscow rejects.