Actor Steven Seagal is promoting pro-Russia propaganda through the country’s state media, reiterating the Kremlin’s talking points in a video posted Tuesday.
Footage shared by Russian state media shows the 70-year-old actor standing in the ruins of a building identified as Ukraine’s Olenivka prison in Donetsk, Insider reports.
At the end of July, more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the facility under disputed circumstances.
However, in the video, Seagal confirmed that the US-supplied HIMARS missile, fired by the Ukrainian military, was the cause of the explosion.
Read more:
Family of Syrian boy Alan Kurdi ‘heartbroken’ by new film about his death
“This is where HIMARS attacked, 50 people were killed, 70 others were injured,” Seagal said in a video posted to pro-Kremlin news site TVZVEZDA on Tuesday.
“It definitely looks like a rocket. If you look at the fire and other details, of course, it’s not a bomb. Not to mention that Russia actually has a lot of artifacts from HIMARS.”
In the video, Inclosed the star was identified as the special representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on humanitarian relations between Russia and the United States
Since the prison was destroyed, Russia and Ukraine have tried to blame each other for the attack.
In the video, an English-speaking Seagal claims Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered shelling to silence a “Nazi” being held in prison.
Read more:
California doctor caught red-handed poisoning camera with Drano
“It is interesting that one of the Nazis killed was a Nazi who had just started talking about Zelenskyy,” added Seagal, “and that Zelenskyy was responsible for orders for torture and other atrocities. Other atrocities are not only violations of the Geneva War Convention, but also crimes against humanity”.
Zelenskyy was adamant that the attack was a “Russian war crime” and accused Moscow of shelling the prison to cover up the killing and torture of prisoners of war.
Seagal, who is originally from Russia, has grown increasingly attached to Russia over the years. In 2016, he was given a Russian passport by President Vladimir Putin. And in 2021, the self-proclaimed musician officially joins a political coalition in favor of Putin, in an attempt to make Russia his home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and FILE – American action film actor Steven Seagal visits the newly built sports complex of the famous Sambo-70 wrestling school in Moscow.
Image of ALEXEI NIKOLSKY / AFP / Getty
In 2017, Ukraine took a ban Above the law actor from their country, claiming that he was a threat to national security.
Read more:
$24k raised for the boy who was given a fake $100 bill at the lemonade stand
It defended the ban at the time, saying the ban was made against people like Seagal who “commit acts that are dangerous to society… in conflict with Ukraine’s interests in maintaining security.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with American actor Steven Seagal at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, November 25, 2016.
EPA / ALEXEI DRUZHIIN
Seagal rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 90s as the star of many action movies. He is attached to Putin because of their shared love of martial arts and Putin often praises Seagal in public.
He faced a flurry of sexual misconduct allegations in 2018, amid #MeToo’s wider scrutiny in Hollywood. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office ultimately dismissed two potential cases against him later that year, after determining that the statute of limitations had expired in both cases.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
