Byline: Evan Rosen, New York Daily News, (TNS)
Actor Steven Seagal on May 30 received Russia’s Order of Friendship in a ceremony at the Kremlin, where he took the opportunity to make controversial claims about the war in Ukraine.
While accepting the honor and reading a statement from his phone, Seagal said that prior to the war, “Ukraine was known for human trafficking, organ trafficking, narco trafficking, child sex trafficking, biochemical warfare labs, fascism and Nazism.”
He went on to denounce the US and other Western countries for supporting Ukraine and stated that tensions could lead to a “World War 3,” HuffPost reported.
Video footage of his comments was shared online, with many noting that his words seemed to echo the exact agenda which Russian President Vladimir Putin has been pushing.
Putin bestowed the 72-year-old actor with the award to honor his “great contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation,” he said during the ceremony.
Seagal’s relationship with Putin dates back several years. In 2016, Putin personally handed him a Russian passport and two years later, appointed him as a special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Earlier in May, Seagal went to Moscow to attend Putin’s inauguration ceremony for his fifth term in office.
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