As dozens of Russia-aligned world leaders gathered in Moscow to pay homage to its military, state media spotted one guest standing out from the crowd — the ’90s Hollywood action star, Steven Seagal.
Between shots of armored vehicles rumbling down the cobbled streets near the Kremlin, Seagal appeared briefly in a close-up during state media outlet Izvestia’s coverage of Russia’s Victory Day.
A separate clip of the movie martial artist moving through the crowd on Friday also circulated on social media over the weekend.
The French news agency Agence France-Presse reported from Moscow that Seagal was seen sitting near a Russian nationalist biker gang called the Night Wolves.
Seagal, a longtime friend of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been vocal about his support for Moscow and gained Russian citizenship in 2016. Russia’s foreign ministry made Seagal a special representative in 2018 to promote Russian culture to the US, and he continued to publicly align himself with the Kremlin after it invaded Ukraine.
He wasn’t the only US movie personality to attend Friday’s parade. Oliver Stone, a three-time Oscar-winning director who’s made a four-hour documentary about Putin, was also photographed at the event.
Stone has also often praised Putin, calling the latter a “great leader” in a May 2023 interview with The Guardian. The director was photographed shaking Putin’s hand during a reception for foreign leaders on Friday.
Their appearance at the parade marks how Russia sought to elevate the grandeur of this year’s event for the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in World War II.
The last two years’ Victory Day parades had featured scaled-back processions, largely believed to be due to Russia conserving resources such as tanks and aircraft for the war. A few world leaders — mostly from eastern European and central Asian states — had appeared to watch the event.
On Friday, however, Moscow put on a full show for roughly two dozen leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping, in attendance.
Iskander and Yars ballistic missiles, Tornado-S multiple rocket launchers, and modern T-90 main battle tanks wheeled past a raft of cameras on the street, and Su-25 fighter jets roared over central Moscow with colored smoke.
Also featured in the procession for the first time were Russian attack drones, which have become the Kremlin’s staple weapons in the war.
The days leading up to the parade, meant to be a demonstration of Russia’s strength and confidence in its military, saw Ukraine threatening Moscow with several waves of attempted drone strikes that forced nearby airports to close temporarily.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned world leaders earlier that week that they could face risk by attending the Victory Day parade.
“Our position is very simple for all countries travelling to Russia on May 9: We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy said.
During the actual parade, Russia cut off internet access in central Moscow and said it had stepped up measures to counter potential drone threats.
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