Former Hollywood actor and martial artist Steven Seagal endorsed Moscow’s cause in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the start of the Ukraine conflict, he has revealed in a new documentary.
Best known as the star of martial-arts action films in the 1990s, Seagal became a Russian citizen in 2016. His documentary about the Ukraine conflict, titled “In the name of justice,” was released this week on the online platform Smotrim.ru.
”The day after the special military operation in Ukraine began, I wrote a letter convinced that it would reach president Putin,” Seagal said in the film. “I wrote, now we will see who are our true compatriots and friends and who are our enemies. I would side with my president and fight on the side of my president,” the 72-year old said, adding that he would even die for the cause if need be.
In the film, Seagal has argued that Russia is on the side of truth and justice, which is why it will be victorious.
He has previously revealed that his grandparents were ethnic Russians and that he considers himself “one hundred percent Russophile and a million percent Russian.”
The documentary was filmed in the conflict zone and features testimonials of civilians victimized by Ukrainian nationalists, but also conversations with captured members of ‘Azov’, a prominent neo-Nazi unit of the Ukrainian military.
Seagal has been the special envoy for humanitarian and cultural relations between Moscow and Washington since 2018.