Putin’s Friend Actor Steven Seagal Speaks Out on Ukraine Invasion: “I want peace for both sides”

Action movie star and long time friend of Vladimir Putin, Steven Seagal, spoke out on the Ukrainian conflict on Monday.

Seagal, who was banned from Ukraine for 5 years 2017 after Putin gave the actor a passport, wants peace for both sides. “I look at both sides as one family,” Seagal said.

“Most of us have friends and family in Russia & Ukraine,” the action star said 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 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 U.S. and Russia.

Both Seagal and Putin practice martial arts and have attended several events together during his visits to Russia.