Vladimir Putin presents Steven Seagal with Order of Friendship award
Famed actor and lifetime martial artist Steven Seagal was presented with the Order of Friendship award by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president on Monday gave a top state award to the American actor for his international humanitarian and cultural work.
Seagal, 70, received the acknowledgement for his “major contribution to the development of international culture and humanitarian cooperation.”
The Order of Friendship is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of March 2, 1994, to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at the betterment of relations with the Russian Federation and its people.
The move to award Seagal comes seven years after Putin personally awarded him a passport and citizenship in 2016.
“I’m Russian, I love Russia, I love Russian people, and I love your president. I really like that he does so much to support martial arts in Russia,” Seagal told the Russian Dozhd TV station in 2013.
Seagal is a 7th-dan black belt in aikido and has been asked to teach the art to the Serbian Special Forces.
