Steven Seagal Promotes Russian Claims That Ukraine Killed Its Own POWs

Actor Steven Seagal, an outspoken supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has become an official Kremlin representative, visited a prison where at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in disputed circumstances last month to promote Russia’s version.

The actor, who became a special representative for Russia’s foreign ministry in 2018, toured the ruins of Olenivka prison in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday for state-controlled media outlet TVZvezda, according to Insider.

Footage showed Seagal repeating Russian propaganda talking points at the Russian-occupied site. The Kremlin has alleged Ukraine destroyed the prison with HIMARS rockets provided by the United States. Ukraine has said Russian shelling destroyed the site and called the attack a war crime. 

“This is where HIMARS hit, 50 people were killed, another 70 were injured,” Seagal said. “It definitely looks like a rocket. If you look at the burning and other details, of course, it’s not a bomb. Not to mention the fact that Russia really has a lot of artifacts from HIMARS.”

Military experts said there’s no evidence supporting the claim that U.S. rockets caused the destruction, according to The Washington Post.

Seagal also called the dead Olenivka prisoners “Nazis” and alleged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself destroyed the facility to kill one of the inmates, according to New York Post.

The “Glimmer Man” actor, who developed a friendship with Putin after obtaining Russian citizenship in 2016, has no expertise in rocketry or forensics. He’s recording his visits to sites like Olenivka for an upcoming documentary.

Seagal, whose official title is special representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was given access to the prison even before the International Red Cross Committee, according to The Moscow Times.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the U.N. had been promised Russia and Ukraine would cooperate in the investigation of Olenivka.