Actor Steven Seagal is pushing pro-Russia propaganda by means of 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, studies Insider.
In late July, greater than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of conflict have been killed within the facility in disputed circumstances.
Within the video, nonetheless, Seagal claims U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets, fired by Ukrainian troops, have been the reason for the blast.
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“That is the place HIMARS hit, 50 folks have been killed, one other 70 have been injured,” Seagal mentioned within the video posted to the pro-Kremlin information web site TVZVEZDA on Tuesday.
“It undoubtedly appears to be like like a rocket. Should you take a look at the burning and different particulars, in fact, it’s not a bomb. To not point out the truth that Russia actually has numerous artifacts from HIMARS.”
Within the video, the Underneath 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 making an attempt to forged 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.
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“The fascinating factor is that one of many killed Nazis is a Nazi who simply began speaking loads about Zelenskyy,” Seagal added, “and that Zelenskyy is chargeable for the orders about torture and different atrocities that violate not solely the Geneva Conflict 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 turn into more and more tied to Russia over time. 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 house.
In 2017, Ukraine took the step of banning the Above the Regulation actor from their nation, labelling him a risk to nationwide safety.
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The nation defended the ban on the time, saying it was warranted for folks like Seagal who “dedicated socially harmful actions… that contradict the pursuits of sustaining Ukraine’s safety.”
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 typically 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 lawyer’s workplace finally dismissed two potential circumstances in opposition to him later that yr, after figuring out that the statute of limitations had expired in each situations.
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