Privet! Vladimir Putin grants Russian citizenship to Steven Seagal

If Seagal were to accept Russian citizenship, he wouldn't be hurting for expatriate company: French actor Gérard Depardieu went into tax exile there in 2013 and American boxer Roy Jones Jr. made a personal request to Putin for dual citizenship in 2015 in order to ease his frequent business trips there — and got it.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Seagal “has been insistent for a long time in asking to be granted Russian citizenship,” adding that “he is known for his warm feelings to our country. He never made a secret of it, and he’s also a well-known actor, which gave grounds to make him a Russian citizen.”

Seagal, who tweeted last month that he was spending most of October there, has yet to comment on his social media accounts and his representatives did not immediately respond to USA TODAY about whether he plans to accept or if he'll claim dual Russian-American citizenship, which could force him to pay taxes to both countries.

Or possibly three countries, in Seagal's case since he was also granted Serbian citizenship in January after offering to establish a martial-arts school in that country's capital of Belgrade.

But on the upside, he might also be eligible to collect a pension in Russia: a cool 5,000 rubles ($78), notes AP Moscow correspondent Nataliya Vasilyeva.

@NatVasilyevaAP The pension angle for the Seagal story. Seagal is entitled to a pension of 5,000 rubles ($78) when he reaches retirement age next year. https://twitter.com