Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced that it has had made American actor Steven Seagal its special representative for Russian-U.S. humanitarian ties
Seagal was granted Russian citizenship back in November 2016
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that his role will be “to contribute to the further development of Russian-American relations in the humanitarian sphere, including interactions in the fields of culture, art, public and youth exchanges, among other things”
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The ministry also stressed that this was a post related to social and political matters without a “monetary reward.”
RT reports: Seagal won’t be receiving any payment for doing the job, which the ministry described as “the case of people’s diplomacy meeting with traditional diplomacy.”
The 66-year-old action star, who appeared in more than 60 movies, including ‘Above the Law’ and ‘Under Siege,’ said that he was “sincerely grateful” to the Russian Foreign Ministry for the opportunity.
“I’ve always tried to do everything possible to help Russian-American relations to improve.
I was working towards without having an official status and now it is a great honor for me to do the same officially,” Seagal, who hold both Russian and US passports, said.
Seagal has been a long time supporter of Russia, visiting it regularly as he opened a chain of the Planet Hollywood franchise in Moscow in the 90s. In 2013 he became an ambassador for Russian firearms manufacturer Orsis.
The Hollywood star, whose family originally hails from Russia, received citizenship in 2016 and signed his passport in the presence of Putin.
Niamh Harris