Action star Steven Seagal — who was banned from Ukraine for five years in 2017 after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the actor a Russian passport — spoke out on the Ukrainian conflict Monday, saying he looks at both sides “as one family.”
“Most of us have friends and family in Russia & Ukraine,” the action star told Fox News Digital on Monday. “I look at both as one family and really believe it is an outside entity spending huge sums of money on propaganda to provoke the two countries to be at odds with each other.”
“My prayers are that both countries will come to a positive, peaceful resolution where we can live & thrive together in peace,” the 69-year-old added.
The “Under Siege” star was appointed as a special envoy for humanitarian ties with the United States by the Russian Foreign Ministry in 2018. The unpaid gig would “facilitate relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges,” according to the agency.
In 2021, Seagal was formally inducted into the Pro-Putin A Just Russia — Patriots — For Truth political party at a ceremony.
He was granted Russian citizenship in 2016, and defended Russia’s leadership for its annexation of Crimea in 2014, calling Putin “one of the great living world leaders.”
Months after he was granted Russian citizenship and personally presented with a passport by Putin, Ukraine deemed the “Hard to Kill” actor a threat to national security and banned him from the country for five years.
Seagal’s citizenship was supposed to be a sign of improving relations between the US and Russia.
Both Seagal and Putin practice martial arts and have attended several events together during his visits to Russia.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last week, wreaking havoc across the Eastern European nation.
While exact death tolls are unclear, hundreds of civilians have been reported killed, including at least 16 children. Hundreds of thousands have already fled the violence to neighboring nations, causing a massive refugee crisis in Europe.
