French actor and Putin crony Depardieu calls for an end to war and a start to negotiations
French actor Gerard Depardieu, a friend of President Vladimir Putin - and a Russian citizen since 2013 - on Tuesday came out against the war in Ukraine and called for negotiations.
Issued on:
"Russia and Ukraine have always been brother countries," the 73-year-old film star told French news agency AFP in a phone call.
"I am against this fratricidal war. I say 'stop the weapons and negotiate'," Depardieu said.
In 2013, he sparked a huge outcry by leaving France and taking Russian nationality in protest at a proposed tax hike by President François Hollande's on the rich in his homeland.
Putin treated him to a dinner to present him with his new citizenship and Depardieu was subsequently full of praise for the strongman.
"I will say what I think about Putin: the Russian nation needs a person just like this - with a Russian temper. Putin is trying to return just a bit of dignity back to the people," he said after the dinner.
Since then, the actor has never stopped praising his new homeland, Russia, a "great democracy", and praising Vladimir Putin, whom he has notably compared to Pope John Paul II.
"Many people would like to have a Putin as president," Gérard Depardieu said on the set of France 2 news programme on 15 June 2015.
Only last month, as tensions soared at the Ukraine border, Depardieu opened an Instagram account with a picture of himself embracing Putin.
He also said on French television: "Leave Vladimir alone."
In 2015, Ukraine blacklisted Depardieu in apparent retribution for his reported refusal to recognise the independence of the former Soviet state.
The culture ministry gave no official reason for the ban at the time, but it had previously identified Depardieu and other Russia-friendly international film stars as national security threats whose movies should be banned.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe