Vladimir Putin Hobnobs With ... Steven Seagal

NPR

Published March 15, 2013 at 5:44 AM EDT

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep, reporting on Vladimir Putin's Hollywood friends. First, the Russian president granted citizenship to Gerard Depardieu. The French actor was avoiding taxes. Now Putin is hobnobbing with Steven Seagal. The star of "Under Siege" toured a new sports facility with Putin. President Putin used this occasion to call for reviving a Soviet-era fitness program in which kids threw javelins, learned to ski and fired guns. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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