How Did Steven Seagal Just Join a Russian Pro-Kremlin Political Party?

Steven Seagal, the U.S.-born martial artist turned 90s Hollywood action star turned Vladimir Putin bedfellow, has joined a pro-Kremlin political party in Moscow, according to a video the party released on Sunday.

Seagal – who was awarded Russian citizenship by Putin in 2016 – received a party membership card for an alliance named “Just Russia - Patriots - For Truth” on Saturday, according to Reuters. That alliance is a pro-Putin, social-democratic political party forged by the amalgamation of multiple left-wing, nationalist and socialist groups. Its name is blended from the “A Just Russia” party, the “Patriots of Russia” party and the “For Truth” party, all of which merged at the start of the year. 

While Segal’s U.S. citizenship prevents him from being able to run for office, as a Russian citizen he is allowed to join political parties, and was previously a member of the Russian nationalist For Truth party, according to local news agency TASS. His new role will see him working on environmental issues. And in his welcome speech, the black-clad Under Siege star proposed a crackdown on businesses that damage the environment.

“We really need to set up a situation where we can investigate, arrest, [and] prosecute people criminally so that there is results,” Seagal said. "Without being able to arrest people, when we just fine them, they are probably making more money off the production of the things that are defiling the environment than they would be fined.”

At the same ceremony, Seagal posed for pictures next to one of the party leaders and the founder of For Truth, Zakhar Prilepin, a writer who was formerly a member of the now-banned Russian National Bolshevik Party. Prilepin enrolled in an armed battalion of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2017, and claimed to have commanded a subunit that killed more Ukrainians than any other. He is wanted on terrorism charges in Ukraine, and was included on a “blacklist” of people who pose a “national-security threat.”

Ukraine similarly deemed Seagal a risk to national security in 2017, due to his relationship with the Kremlin. Seagal, for his part, has made his adoration of Putin well-known: previously describing him as “one of the greatest world leaders” and a “brother.”

The pair’s relationship seems to have been forged over a mutual love of martial arts. In 2013, Seagal told Russian state-run news channel RT “the first time I went to his (Putin’s) home, I walked in and saw a life-sized statue of Kanō Jigorō, who is the founder of judo, so I was immediately taken and impressed and sort of really wanting to get to know this man deeper and deeper.”

“He (Putin) is a student of Asian philosophy, but he's also a student of, you know, medieval, you know, great leaders and great tacticians. He's a smart man who studies those people who have amazing results in history," he added.

Putin reportedly proposed that Seagal be made an honorary consul of Russia in California and Arizona in 2013 – a move that would have made Seagal a potential intermediary between the White House and the Kremlin, according to Buzzfeed – but the U.S. refused. In 2016, a spokesperson for Putin said that Seagal’s fondness for Russia and his status as a famous actor was a reason to make him a citizen, BBC reports. And then, in 2018, Russia enlisted Seagal with the task of improving humanitarian ties with the U.S., at a time when relations between the two countries were at their lowest point since the Cold War.

Seagal does not appear to have had much success on that front.

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