In a video doing the rounds on social media, the Under Siege star was filmed telling a crowd of Russian elites: “I love all of you, and we stand together through thick and thin.”Among the guests included TV presenter Vladimir Soloviev, who has fiercely supported Putin’s war on Ukraine, as well as Margarita Simonyan, a pro-Kremlin media mogul and editor-in-chief of the state-funded broadcaster, The Times reports.Both Soloviev and Simonyan are on the European Unions sanctions list amid Russia’s invasion of its neighbour Ukraine.In the video, the action star went on to describe “each and every” guest as “family”, as guests enjoyed a lavish meal in a function room.It comes after Seagal – who was banned from Ukraine for five years in 2017 after Putin gave him a Russian passport – earlier spoke out about the Ukrainian conflict, saying he looks at both sides “as one family”.“Most of us have friends and family in Russia and Ukraine,” the actor said in early March.“I look at both as one family and really believe it is an outside entity spending huge sums of money on propaganda to provoke the two countries to be at odds with each other.“My prayers are that both countries will come to a positive, peaceful resolution where we can live and thrive together in peace.”When he was personally granted Russian citizenship in 2016, Seagal defended Russian leadership for its annexation of Crimea in 2014, as he dubbed Putin “one of the great living world leaders”.Seagal’s star has dimmed in recent years amid his close relationship with Russia and numerous claims of sexual misconduct from up to a dozen women spanning decades.His ex-wife of nine years, US actress Kelly LeBrock, recently said she pities Seagal.“I feel sorry for the man,” the actress, 62, said in a December interview.“I think that he’s just a very sad person and he is what I would call a tragedy of Hollywood.“I believe he was very bullied as a child, very sickly, very weak and I guess people who are treated that way as children end up becoming lost as they age.“I wish him all the best.”Seagal hasn’t appeared in a film since 2019’s Beyond The Law, co-starring DMX and Johnny Messner.
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