Jean-Claude Van Damme has instructed Vladimir Putin he desires to come back to Russia as an “ambassador of peace”.
In a weird video posted on Telegram by a pro-Russian journalist from Ukraine, the Hollywood motion hero, 64, stated he could be “honoured” to tackle such a job.
Addressing the Kremlin chief immediately, he stated: “We want to come to Russia. We’ll try to do this the way you want to do this – to be an ambassador of peace.”
It could not be the primary time the person nicknamed “The Muscles from Brussels” has visited Russia.
In 2010, he loved ringside seats alongside Putin at a combined martial arts occasion in Sochi.
The Belgian-born former bodybuilder shares a love of preventing with the Russian president, who’s himself a judo black belt, and they’re stated to have identified one another for years.
Tiptoeing across the matter of Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and its ongoing stand-off with the West, Van Damme promised to speak “only about peace, sport and happiness” and never politics, earlier than signing off the video with a “big kiss for Putin”.
Most celebrities have turned their again on Vladimir Putin since he launched his invasion in February 2022 however a handful proceed to defend him. Of these, American actor Steven Seagal is probably the most excessive profile.
The Underneath Siege star, who holds a Russian passport and is a frequent customer to the nation, acts as Moscow’s particular consultant for Russian-US humanitarian ties.
However once we caught up with him at Putin’s newest presidential inauguration final yr, he refused to say why he helps the Kremlin chief…
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Steven Seagal calls Sky’s query about Putin ‘silly’