Steven Seagal Is Teaching Martial Arts To Russian Soldiers
Steven Seagal has opened an aikido center in Moscow, Russia, with the aim of training young Russians before they join the armed forces
American-born martial artist and actor Steven Seagal has opened an aikido center in Moscow, Russia, with the aim of training young Russians before they join the armed forces. Seagal is most well-known for starring in a number of action movies in the U.S. before gaining dual Russian and Siberian citizenship in 2016. Now, he is better known as the used-to-be action star who is now a major supporter of Vladimir Putin.
According to MARCA World News, Steven Seagal is a seventh-dan black belt in aikido. Before becoming a movie star, Seagal was a martial arts instructor in Japan, where he ran his father-in-law’s dojo. When he moved back to the United States, he remained a martial arts instructor until he made his film debut in 1988’s Above the Law, directed by Andrew Davis.
Steven Seagal subsequently starred in thirteen action films over the next decade, acting alongside stars like Tommy Lee Jones and Michael Caine, and continued his career well into the 2000s, not slowing down until 2019, a few years after becoming involved in Russian politics. He has been the chief instructor in the Russian Federation for aikido since 2018, the same year that he was appointed Russia’s special envoy to the United States.
Steven Seagal has become a close friend of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who himself bestowed Seagal with a Russian passport in 2016. Putin has also awarded Seagal the high honor of Order of Friendship, which is the top award for allies to Russia. Now, Seagal is teaching young Russians martial arts to help strengthen Russia’s military system.
When making a public statement about his new dojo in Moscow, Steven Seagal said that “the young people I saw today have very big potential.” He then discussed how he hopes Russia opens more martial arts centers like his to spur the development of aikido in the country at a swifter speed.
Despite the controversial stand of supporting Russia and the country’s leader, Steven Seagal has never been shy about his friendship and approval of Putin, even calling the Russian president “one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest leader alive today.” Additionally, the One Deadly Ground actor has publicly defended Russia’s annexation of Crimea and has visited Ukraine as part of his duties as a representative of the Russian Federation. Another aspect of his duties to the Russian government involved Seagal gifting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with a samurai sword in 2021 on behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Even with his controversial political stances and busy schedule as a Russian representative and martial arts teacher, Steven Seagal is getting back into the movie business with two projects currently in pre-production.
The martial artist is currently working on writing a sequel to Above the Law, which he will also star in. Also, Seagal is set to star in The Tip of the Spear, a movie about a border patrol agent in Arizona, that will also be penned by Seagal. Keoni Waxman, who wrote 2021’s The Ravine, is co-writing The Tip of the Spear with Seagal.
