Hollywood action star has been very public in admiration for president and toured Moscow-backed states in media frenzy 
 
 Call it the “full Gerard”. 
 
 First, you travel to Russia and make complimentary remarks about president Vladimir Putin. Then you go to Chechnya and hang out with the Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, laughing off concerns about his abysmal human rights record and dancing the traditional folk dance in the style of a man being Tasered. 
 
 Steven Seagal: a timeline from film star to Russian citizenship – gallery Read more 
 
 You are then invited back to Moscow, where you spend some one-on-one time with Putin and develop a personal rapport. You lap up the fawning media attention that nobody gives you back home any more. 
 
 For good measure, you throw in a few bizarre and thoroughly inexplicable trips to other countries in the region, in this instance to Belarus, where “the last dictator in Europe” feeds you a carrot, and then Kyrgyzstan, where you ride on horseback into a packed stadium clad in the armour of a medieval warrior. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Hollywood star improvises a traditional Chechnyan folk dance. 
 
 Finally, for Steven Seagal, as for Gérard Depardieu before him, comes the final stage: Russian citizenship. 
 
 “Vladimir Putin signed an executive order according Russian citizenship to Steven Seagal,” announced the sober decree published on the Kremlin website on Thursday morning, among other items of national importance such as government reshuffles and international treaties. 
 
 So far, there has been no personal man-to-man handover, as was the case in 2013 with Depardieu, when Putin handed him his new maroon travel document, and the corpulent actor grasped the Russian president in a sweaty embrace. 
 
 But the strength of the friendship between Seagal and Putin is well established. The US actor has said the Russian president could well be “the greatest world leader alive today”. One of the only bits of publicly known information about the private quarters of Putin’s residence comes, somewhat incongruously, from Seagal, who noted in an interview that it contains a life-size gold statue of Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo. 
 
 Aside from his admiration for Putin, and a valiant though dubious attempt to enunciate Russian swearwords when he played a Russian gangster in the 2009 direct-to-DVD film Driven to Kill, Seagal would appear to have fairly limited grounds on which to qualify for Russian citizenship. 
 
 Apparently, though, that is enough. 
 
 “It was his wish; he really was asking for citizenship persistently and for quite a long time,” said Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday. “He is known for his warm feelings to our country, which he has never hidden.” 
 
 Seagal joins a number of westerners who have sought, and been granted, Russian citizenship. In addition to Depardieu, the boxer Roy Jones Jr was made Russian last year. 
 
 For Seagal, Russian citizenship may give him the chance to burnish his film career with new opportunities and funding. Speaking in Kyrgyzstan in September, the actor also said he had a more lofty ambition: “To bring all people together, to live in harmony.” ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mr Seagal is the latest international actor to be granted Russian citizenship 
 
 US actor Steven Seagal has been given Russian citizenship, the Kremlin says. 
 
 President Putin signed a decree to make the award to the martial arts expert, who starred in Hollywood action thrillers during the 1990s. 
 
 Seagal is friends with Mr Putin, who he has described as "one of the greatest world leaders". 
 
 Mr Putin's spokesman said Seagal was known for his warm feelings towards Russia and his status as a famous actor was a reason to make him a citizen. 
 
 Seagal made headlines when he described Russia's actions in Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, as "very reasonable". A keen guitarist, he played a concert there the same year. 
 
 In 2013 Mr Putin reportedly proposed that Seagal be made an honorary consul of Russia in California and Arizona. 
 
 The move would have made Seagal a potential intermediary between the White House and the Kremlin, Buzzfeed reported. The US refused. 
 
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 Image copyright AFP Image caption President Putin and Seagal have previously teamed up to promote exercise for schoolchildren 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Seagal played a concert in Crimea in 2014 after its annexation by Russia 
 
 Seagal, whose grandmother was from Vladivostok in Russia's far east, has made frequent trips to Russia in recent years and visited Kamchatka and Sakhalin in September. 
 
 He said during the visit that he wanted to spend several months a year in the country, Russia's Tass news agency reported. 
 
 Seagal follows other celebrities including French actor Gerard Depardieu, US mixed martial arts fighter Jeff Monson, US boxer Roy Jones and US snowboarder Vic Wild in taking Russian citizenship. 
 
 Earlier this year Seagal was given Serbian nationality after offering to set up a martial arts school in the capital Belgrade. 
 
 The action star's movie credits include Under Siege and Flight of Fury and he has also starred in his own US reality TV show, Steven Seagal: Lawman. ||||| MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. US actor Steven Seagal who was granted Russian citizenship on Thursday by President Vladimir Putin, said he was "tremendously grateful for this opportunity," a statement provided to TASS by his agent reads. 
 
 "I always felt that USA and Russia should be best friends and allies. Despite the unfortunate propaganda going on I remain fully committed to work tirelessly towards this end and I am tremendously grateful for this opportunity," Seagal noted. 
 
 "My father was pure Russian, my father’s family is primarily from Vladivostok. However, I have family from Siberia, Saint Petersburg and even Belarus. I have a tremendous amount of friends and family in Russia and former Soviet regions. I have huge respect and affection for Russia. As well as my own country," Seagal’s statement said. 
 
 As reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to Steven Seagal. 
 
 This past September while attending the Edge of the World International Film Festival on Russia’s Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, the 64-year-old actor told reporters he didn’t rule out obtaining Russian citizenship. "I think Russian citizenship is somewhere on the horizon. I would love to spend a few months a year with my friends in Russia, with people who love me and await me here," said Seagal. 
 
 Steven Seagal was born in 1952 in Michigan, USA. He has so far starred in more than 120 movies most of which are martial arts action films. He has worked with the likes of Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Caine, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Trejo and other Hollywood stars.
– Vladimir Putin just took his bromance with Steven Seagal to a whole new level. The Russian leader has signed an executive order granting Seagal Russian citizenship, reports the BBC. A Kremlin rep says Seagal "was asking for citizenship persistently and for quite a long time," and his soft spot for Russia—the American actor once described Putin as "one of the greatest world leaders" and Russian's actions in Crimea as "very reasonable"—helped make it possible, per the Guardian. Seagal, whose father was Russian, says he's "tremendously grateful" for the honor and plans to "work tirelessly" until the US and Russia are "best friends and allies," per TASS.