Actor Steven Seagal is pushing pro-Russia propaganda by the nation’s state media, repeating Kremlin speaking factors in a video posted Tuesday.
Footage shared by Russian state media reveals the 70-year-old actor standing in what seems to be the wreckage of a constructing recognized as Ukraine’s Olenivka jail in Donetsk, experiences Insider.
In late July, greater than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of conflict had been killed within the facility in disputed circumstances.
Within the video, nonetheless, Seagal claims U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets, fired by Ukrainian troops, had been the reason for the blast.
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“That is the place HIMARS hit, 50 individuals had been killed, one other 70 had been injured,” Seagal mentioned within the video posted to the pro-Kremlin information website TVZVEZDA on Tuesday.
“It undoubtedly seems to be like a rocket. When you have a look at the burning and different particulars, after all, it’s not a bomb. To not point out the truth that Russia actually has loads of artifacts from HIMARS.”
Within the video, the Below Siege star is recognized as a particular consultant of the Ministry of International Affairs of the Russian Federation for humanitarian relations between Russia and the U.S.
Because the jail’s destruction, Russia and Ukraine have been trying to solid blame on one another for the assault.
Within the video, an English-speaking Seagal claims Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered the shelling to silence a “Nazi” being held on the jail.
“The fascinating factor is that one of many killed Nazis is a Nazi who simply began speaking so much about Zelenskyy,” Seagal added, “and that Zelenskyy is answerable for the orders about torture and different atrocities that violate not solely the Geneva Warfare Conference, however are additionally crimes in opposition to humanity.”
Zelenskyy has been adamant that the assault was a “Russian conflict crime” and has accused Moscow of shelling the jail to cowl up the homicide and torture of prisoners of conflict.
Seagal, who has Russian heritage, has develop into more and more tied to Russia through the years. In 2016, he was awarded a Russian passport from President Vladimir Putin. And in 2021 the self-styled musician formally joined a political coalition backing Putin, in an effort to undertake Russia as his dwelling.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and FILE – American motion film actor Steven Seagal go to a newly-built sports activities advanced of Sambo-70 outstanding wrestling faculty in Moscow.
ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Photographs
In 2017, Ukraine took the step of banning the Above the Legislation actor from their nation, labelling him a menace to nationwide safety.
The nation defended the ban on the time, saying it was warranted for individuals like Seagal who “dedicated socially harmful actions… that contradict the pursuits of sustaining Ukraine’s safety.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes palms with US actor Steven Seagal on the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 25 November 2016.
EPA/ALEXEI DRUZHININ
Seagal rose to fame within the late Eighties and early ’90s because the star of many motion movies. He bonded with Putin over their mutual love of martial arts and Putin has usually praised Seagal in public.
He confronted a slew of allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018, amid a broader #MeToo reckoning in Hollywood. The Los Angeles district legal professional’s workplace finally dismissed two potential instances in opposition to him later that 12 months, after figuring out that the statute of limitations had expired in each cases.
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