U.S.-born actor Steven Seagal is making no secret of which side he’s on in the Russia-Ukraine War as he promotes the teaching of hand-to-hand combat for new military recruits in Moscow.
Seagal told Russian government news agency Tass, “It is important that the development of Aikido proceed at a faster pace” among recruits in the Russian Armed Forces, which have been facing monumental troop losses as the war with Ukraine drags into its second year.
Claiming Siberian roots, Seagal says he’s now ‘1 million percent Russian,’ although he was born in Michigan.
The actor is known for displaying his martial arts skills in such movies as On Deadly Ground and Under Siege. He became a Russian citizen in 2016 and has called Russian President Vladimir Putin, “one of the greatest living world leaders.” Putin became smitten with Seagal after the actor established a home in Moscow and threw his support behind the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Russia has dubbed Seagal “Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Cultural
According to the Aikido Association of America, the martial art focuses on bringing “peaceful resolutions” to conflicts. If that doesn’t work, there’s always the “comprehensive system of throwing, joint-locking, striking and pinning techniques, coupled with training in traditional Japanese weapons such as the sword, staff and knife.”
Video shows Seagal attending a conference sponsored by a “movement of Russophiles” this month, while Tass Russian News Agency caught up with Seagal at an Aikido center opening last week.
“The young athletes that I saw today have a very great potential. We need to open more such centers in order to develop it,” Seagal told Tass.
Tass reported that the whole point of the Aikido centers is to prepare young Russian military recruits “for service in the Russian Armed Forces.”
This week, China’s President Xi met with Vladimir Putin in what many pundits viewed as a show of support as the Ukraine War rages on.
Recently, Russian recruits have been sending videos to Putin where they beg for more training and equipment, and help from what a Russian blogger dubbed “meat assaults” by the Ukrainians.