Steven Seagal Attended Putin’s Victory Day Parade Subsequent to Biker Gang

As dozens of Russia-aligned world leaders gathered in Moscow to pay homage to its navy, state media noticed one visitor standing out from the group — the ’90s Hollywood motion star, Steven Seagal.

Between pictures of armored automobiles rumbling down the cobbled streets close to the Kremlin, Seagal appeared briefly in a close-up throughout state media outlet Izvestia’s protection of Russia’s Victory Day.

A separate clip of the film martial artist shifting by way of the group on Friday additionally circulated on social media over the weekend.

The French information company Agence France-Presse reported from Moscow that Seagal was seen sitting close to a Russian nationalist biker gang referred to as the Evening Wolves.

Seagal, a longtime pal of Russian chief Vladimir Putin, has been vocal about his assist for Moscow and gained Russian citizenship in 2016. Russia’s overseas ministry made Seagal a particular consultant in 2018 to advertise Russian tradition to the US, and he continued to publicly align himself with the Kremlin after it invaded Ukraine.

He wasn’t the one US film character to attend Friday’s parade. Oliver Stone, a three-time Oscar-winning director who’s made a four-hour documentary about Putin, was additionally photographed on the occasion.

Stone has additionally usually praised Putin, calling the latter a “nice chief” in a Could 2023 interview with The Guardian. The director was photographed shaking Putin’s hand throughout a reception for overseas leaders on Friday.

Their look on the parade marks how Russia sought to raise the grandeur of this yr’s occasion for the eightieth anniversary of Nazi Germany’s give up in World Warfare II.

The final two years’ Victory Day parades had featured scaled-back processions, largely believed to be because of Russia conserving sources akin to tanks and plane for the struggle. A couple of world leaders — principally from japanese European and central Asian states — had appeared to observe the occasion.

On Friday, nonetheless, Moscow placed on a full present for roughly two dozen leaders, together with China’s Xi Jinping, in attendance.

Iskander and Yars ballistic missiles, Twister-S a number of rocket launchers, and fashionable T-90 predominant battle tanks wheeled previous a raft of cameras on the road, and Su-25 fighter jets roared over central Moscow with coloured smoke.

Additionally featured within the procession for the primary time had been Russian assault drones, which have grow to be the Kremlin’s staple weapons within the struggle.

The times main as much as the parade, meant to be an indication of Russia’s energy and confidence in its navy, noticed Ukraine threatening Moscow with a number of waves of tried drone strikes that pressured close by airports to shut quickly.

Ukrainian chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned world leaders earlier that week that they might face danger by attending the Victory Day parade.

“Our place could be very easy for all international locations travelling to Russia on Could 9: We can’t be held accountable for what occurs on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy stated.

Throughout the precise parade, Russia lower off web entry in central Moscow and stated it had stepped up measures to counter potential drone threats.