Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded aging American action movie star Steven Seagal with Russian citizenship, according to a decree published Thursday on the Kremlin's website.

Seagal follows other Western celebrities with an affinity for Putin's machismo in receiving Russian citizenship, such as fighter Roy Jones Jr. and French actor Gerard Depardieu.

Seagal has aspired to Russian citizenship for several years now. Most recently, he expressed his intention to receive a passport in September at a film festival in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.