Steven Seagal made 'Russian Special Envoy' to improve US-Russia relations

Steven Seagal has been appointed as a special envoy by the Russian government to help assist US-Russian relations.

The Russian foreign ministry announced the news via its Facebook page.

“The task is to promote the further development of Russian-American relations in the humanitarian sphere, including interaction in the field of culture, art, public and youth exchanges and more,” it said.

“The very case when folk diplomacy meets diplomacy traditional. In international practice, there are parallels with the functions of the UN goodwill ambassadors.”

According to Russia Today, the former action star told the Russian news agency Tass: “I’ve always had a very strong desire to do all I can to help improve Russian-American relations.

“I have worked tirelessly in this direction for many years unofficially and I am now very grateful for the opportunity to do the same thing officially.”

He added on Twitter:

The ministry has said that Seagal will not be paid for his work.

Seagal has been a close personal friend of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for some time, bonding over a shared love of martial arts, and was granted Russian citizenship in 2016.

In the past, he’s expressed support for Putin’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014, and was banned from entering Ukraine last year for a period of five years over his support for Putin.

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