Steven Seagal Headlines Pro-War Festival in Russia

Steven Seagal continued to show his appreciation for his adopted home of Russia over the weekend, when he headlined the festival Guitars in Formation.

The actor, who is the special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for Russian-American humanitarian relations, recently received an Order of Friendship medal from President Vladimir Putin for his work in supporting the nation.

Several weeks after describing himself as "1 million percent Russian" at an event in Moscow, Michigan-born Seagal, 71, made his way to the city of Samara, in southwestern Russia, to perform at the Guitars in Formation festival.

As the Under Siege star made his way onto the stage for his performance on May 6, the cheering crowd was heard repeatedly chanting his name.

Dressed in a mostly black ensemble, Seagal walked out onto the stage with a guitar, as he told the crowd that the instrument held particular cultural significance.

"Maybe many of you don't recognize this. This is an old, old Soviet guitar," he said in English, before pausing while a translator repeated his words in Russian. "It's been fully restored. And this is going into Vladimir's museum forever."

Seagal signed the guitar before it was handed off and taken backstage. The screen star then took up another guitar, and sat on a chair onstage as he played through a medley of blues tracks before the cheering crowd.

Backed by the D'Black Blues Orchestra, Seagal left much of the singing to the bandmembers, although he notably took a prominent role in belting out the lyrics to his 2006 track "Love Doctor."

While Guitars in Formation is described as an "anti fascism" gathering, it is a militaristic nostalgia fest whose highlights have included performances by Night Wolves, a far-right biker gang known to be a favorite of Putin.

The festival has also aired war-themed films and provided a platform for the speeches by pro-war Russian activists and artists, including Denis Maidanov.

Guitars in Formation, which this year ran May 1-6, featured Russian musicians as well as international acts, including Nicaraguan group LiberArte, the French François Modeme and the Slovenian Sasho Gachnik.

When Seagal's participation in the festival was announced in April, an official statement released via Russian government news agency TASS read: "Many people know that Steven is also a musician with a deep love for the blues of a lifetime."

Back in March, Seagal was the guest of honor at the opening of the Typhoon All-Russian Aikido Center, a venue to teach military recruits martial arts.

While attending a founding event for the International Movement of Russians in Moscow in March, Seagal told the crowd that he was "1 million percent Russian."

The group was established to unite Russophiles from different countries in their goal to push a more positive narrative and help lift European Union sanctions against Russia, which have been tightened amid the country's invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Seagal said of his upbringing: "My father was pure Russian, and I was raised in a pure Russian household, because my mother was completely immersed in the Russian culture and she did not have parents."

"So I grew up with Russian culture," he continued. "I grew up loving Russia and loving all of what I learned about it from a very early age. And for me, I am 1 million percent Russophile and and 1 million percent Russian."

The actor and martial artist also went on to accuse his native U.S. of spending "billions of dollars on disinformation, lies" in a campaign, he said, to "try to discredit, demoralize and destroy the emerging morale of Russia. It is Russian hate doctrine."

He added that "over half of the people in America actually love Russia and love Russians and know that they're being lied to."

Weeks earlier, it was announced by the Russian government that Seagal had received an Order of Friendship medal for his "great contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation."

Established by former President Boris Yeltsin in 1994, the award recognizes the work of Russians and foreign nationals aimed at the betterment of life for Russian people.

Other notable recipients of the Russia's Order of Friendship medal have included former International Olympic Committee boss Jacques Rogge, and Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank and former managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

The cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Michael of Kent, returned his Order of Friendship medal after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin has falsely linked the invasion to the Soviet struggle against Nazi Germany during World War II. Nazi forces laid siege to Leningrad for nearly 900 days from September 1941, causing mass starvation within the city and a death toll estimated at up to 1.5 million people.

The Russian leader has repeated Kremlin rhetoric falsely claiming Moscow was protecting residents of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region from "neo-Nazis who, the Kremlin claims, seized control of the Ukrainian government in 2014," the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in a January update.

Putin previously handed Seagal his official Russian passport after he became a citizen in 2016. Seagal is an American citizen by birthright and was also made a citizen of Serbia in 2016.

In October 2022, Seagal was even given land by authorities in the prestigious Rublevka area near Moscow. The land was awarded to Gorki Holding Co., which Seagal has a 26 percent stake in and it intends to build an International Center for Martial Arts on the site.

His company received the land without bidding, and Moscow authorities said they made the decision because the company will create jobs as part of the facility's construction.

Seagal has long been a vocal supporter of Putin and Russia, especially since the country's war efforts began a year ago against Ukraine. He even called Putin "one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest world leader, alive today."

In October 2022, Seagal was one of six people recommended to be put under sanctions for his support of Russia and his approval of Putin's "aggressive occupation policy."

The recommendation was made in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell. It was sent by the Commission on Security and Cooperation for Europe and signed by its co-chair Steve Cohen, fellow member Congressman Joe Wilson and politicians from Estonia, Ukraine, the European Parliament and Poland.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko also co-signed the letter and said at the time that "sanctions should be imposed on everyone who serves the Putin regime, not just Steven Seagal.

"Putin has such a favorite pastime—former politicians, famous actors, musicians—to involve in his propaganda. He gives a lot of money, and for this, he asks to promote his narratives or put these famous people in high positions in state-owned companies in Russia," he told Newsweek.