Newsweek: Steven Seagal given land by Russia previously allocated for sick children

Actor Steven Seagal has been given land by authorities in the prestigious Rublevka area near Moscow that was previously allocated for the care of children with cancer, according to Newsweek.

The Gorki Holding Co., which Seagal has a 26 per cent stake in, received a huge plot of land in the Odintsovo district, according to Russian news outlet Baza. Authorities in the Moscow region reportedly gave the company 8.2 hectares (20 acres) of land in the Odintsovo district, with a market value of 800 million rubles ($13.6 million).

The company intends to build an International Center for Martial Arts at the site, Baza reported. Seagal's company received the land without bidding, and Moscow authorities justified the decision by saying that the company will create jobs as part of the facility's construction.

The Kremlin has said Putin and the actor and martial arts practitioner are longtime friends. The Russian president personally presented Seagal with a Russian passport in November 2016 when he was granted citizenship and hosted him at his residence outside Moscow. During the early days of the Ukraine war, the actor expressed support for Putin. He has called him "one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest world leader, alive today," according to London's Times.

Seagal's paternal grandparents were Russian Jews who immigrated to the U.S. The actor traces his roots in the regions of Kalmykia, Tuva and Yakutia, according to the Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

Putin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said that Seagal, who is "known for his rather warm feelings towards our country," persistently and for a long time asked for Russian citizenship. Last year, Seagal vowed he would never renounce that citizenship.