Pink Floy co-founder Roger Waters (left) and Hollywood actor Steve Seagal.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been losing friends ever since he invaded Ukraine last year.
But some public figures have stayed loyal to him, including Hollywood actors and musicians.
While some of them continue to defend Putin, they have also said they are against the war.
Reuters/Itar-Tass/Presidential Press Service (RUSSIA)
Source: The Guardian
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In 2007, Van Damme, his daughter, and Putin — also a known martial arts enthusiast — visited an MMA event in St. Petersburg, Russia, together, the Kremlin reported at the time.
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A month after Russia launched its attack, DiCaprio donated to groups including the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children, the Associated Press reported.
Source: The Guardian
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In 2013, Putin signed an executive order making Depardieu a Russian citizen. The actor wanted to become a Russian citizen to save taxes in France, The New York Times reported.
In a letter to Russian state television at the time, he said: “I love your president, Vladimir Putin, very much and it’s mutual,” according to The Times.
After the war, Depardieu told Agence France-Presse in an interview: “Russia and Ukraine have always been brother countries. I am against this fratricidal war.”
“I say, ‘Stop the weapons and negotiate,'” he added.
In March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, French media reported that Depardieu became a citizen of the United Arab Emirates. It is unclear when exactly this occurred.
Source: Sky News
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In April last year, McCartney waved the Ukrainian flag as he kicked off his 2022 world tour in Spokane, Washington, MailOnline reported.
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In a video posted several months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Nicholson was seen holding up a rock with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The caption said: “We are with the people of Ukraine.”
Source: The Guardian
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Seagal and Putin are long-time friends.
The actor previously backed the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and is also in support of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
In February, Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship award for his “international humanitarian and cultural work,” Reuters reported.
Seagal, who is 70 years old, is known for his appearances in several Hollywood action films, including “The Patriot” and “Above the Law.”
In 2017, Ukraine banned Seagal from entering the country on national security grounds, The Guardian reported.
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In his speech to the UN security council on February 8, he called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
“The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “Also, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms.”
In another interview with the Berliner Zeitung in February, Waters said Putin “governs carefully, making decisions on the grounds of a consensus in the Russian Federation government.”
After his comments, Polly Samson, the wife of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, called Waters a “Putin apologist,” The Guardian reported.
A week before Russia’s invasion, Waters told Russia Today that talk of any attack was “bullshit” and “propaganda demonizing Russia.”
Source: The Guardian
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In a secret recording, published in October by LaPresse, Berlusconi can be heard telling lawmakers during a parliamentary meeting about his “re-established” relationship with Putin.
In the audio clip, which his office confirmed was authentic, he boasts that the Russian leader called him “the first of his five true friends.”
Berlusconi has also blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the war in Ukraine telling Italian media last month that Zelenskyy could have stopped the war.
“I judge, very, very negatively the behavior of this gentleman,” Berlusconi added.
Berlusconi, who was Italy’s prime minister for close to a decade, is now a senator and heads the conservative party Forza Italia.
But Berlusconi has previously also condemned the war and admitted in April last year that he was “deeply disappointed and saddened” by the behavior of the Russian leader.
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“Unfortunately he’s like a lot of business people, certainly like me, that we make mistakes from time to time and when you make the mistake, you have to do the best you can to get out of it,” Ecclestone told Good Morning Britain in June 2022.
Ecclestone also criticized Zelenskyy and argued that the Ukrainian leader wasn’t making a “big enough effort” to discuss a peace plan and described Putin as a “sensible person.”
“The other person in Ukraine, his profession I understand, used to be a comedian, and I think it seems that he wants to continue that profession,” Ecclestone said of Zelenskyy.
After his comments prompted a backlash, Ecclestone apologized, telling Sky Sports: “Often people, I think, come out and say things or do things without really too much thinking. Probably I did the same, and I can understand people thinking I’m defending what he’s done in Ukraine, which I don’t.”
He added: “I was brought up during the war, the last war, so I know what it’s like. And I feel sorry for the people in Ukraine having to suffer for something they haven’t done. They’ve done nothing wrong.”
Source: Sky News