Last Thursday, an unlikely American, uh, hero got Russian citizenship from Vladimir Putin.
It’s strange. I’ll let NPR explain.
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.
Yes, 90’s movie star Steven Segal — the man behind some of the most unintentionally funny movies of all time — is now a Ruskie. Let’s take a gander through some of his finest cinema work.
Now I’m reporting this because Seagal is the favorite actor of one of the Caps’ Russians. For instance,
check out this excerpt from a priceless 2011 interview between Pavel Lysenkov and Evgeny Kuznetsov:
Pavel Lysenkov: [Favorite] actor?
Evgeny Kuznetsov: Steven Seagal.
Pavel Lysenkov: Why?
Evgeny Kuznetsov: He is just a crazy person.
C’mon, Kuzy. Would a crazy person do this?
Okay, yes. He is definitely a crazy person.
You can have him, Russia.
