Putin awarded actor Steven Seagal the Order of Friendship

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree awarding the Order of Friendship to American actor Steven Seagal. Document published on the legal information portal.
American actor Seagal received the award “for his great contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation”, according to the decree. Six years earlier, in November 2016, Putin granted the actor Russian citizenship by decree.
Seagal has spoken of his Russian roots more than once. He called himself a “Russian Mongol” and said his paternal grandfather emigrated from Russia to the United States after the October Revolution. According to the actor, his grandmother was from Vladivostok, and some other ancestors were from St. Petersburg and Belarus. He also has said said that he had relatives in Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Yakutia, Baikal, Buryatia, and also, possibly, in Ukraine.
In 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry appointed Seagal as special representative for Russian-American humanitarian relations. The ministry noted that this position is comparable to the work of United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors and does not involve payment.
Segal’s tasks as special envoy include the development of Russian-American relations in the fields of culture, art, public exchanges and youth.
In 2022 Segal admitted who could change his position, as relations between the United States and Russia have become “very tense”.
Last October, the Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe called on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and EU High Representative Josep Borrell to impose sanctions on Steven Seagal for his support of military action in Ukraine.