Steven Seagal, Hollywood actor and one of Vladimir Putin’s biggest fans, is now a member of the pro-Kremlin party called “A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth,” the party announced Saturday.
Seagal, a naturalized Russian citizen since 2016, said that he plans to focus his work in the party on environmental issues and crackdown on businesses damaging the environment.
According to an Open Media report, Seagal has already prepared his first bill, also known as the "Steven Seagal Law,” that would amend the Russian criminal code to provide real jail terms for environmental pollution.
“We must make sure the legal system persecutes those responsible for committing environmental crimes and can severely punish those who commit them," he said.
The bill mandates imprisonment for anyone who violates the regulations for transporting environmentally hazardous substances and waste; safety rules for handling microbiological or other biological agents or toxins;and regulations prohibiting pollution of water, air, land, etc.
The “For Truth” party is among several political parties established in the past several months in the run-up to the elections to Russia’s lower house of parliament. The party’s platform proposes criminalizing pollution in Russia.
Seagal cannot not run for the State Duma because of his U.S. citizenship, TASS news agency reported, citing a “For Truth” spokeswoman.
The party controls a faction in the lower house of Russia’s parliament, making it the fourth-largest party after Putin’s United Russia party, the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party.
Putin personally granted Russian passport to the U.S.-born actor in 2016. Since then Seagal has become a special envoy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for humanitarian projects with the U.S.
