MOSCOW has appointed American actor Steven Seagal as a special envoy dealing with humanitarian links with the US, said the Russian Foreign Ministry yesterday.

“Steven Seagal has been appointed as a special representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russia on Russian-American Humanitarian Ties,” said the ministry on its website.

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

Seagal’s fame peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s with films such as Under Siege and Above the Law, but he remains hugely popular in eastern Europe and was granted both Russian and Serbian citizenships in 2016.

He has previously hung out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a fellow martial arts fan.

After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Seagal called Putin “one of the great living world leaders”, and even performed with his blues band in the annexed Black Sea peninsula.

Seagal was seen at the World Cup in Russia, and was among the guests when Putin was sworn in for a fourth term in May.

The 66-year-old actor is also among the Hollywood figures accused of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo campaign.

The Foreign Ministry said he will not be paid for the envoy role.

The announcement comes with Russia-US ties at a low ebb over long-standing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, which Moscow consistently rejects. – AFP, August 5, 2018.