American B-list actor Steven Seagal on Friday sat down with Russia's militaristic Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin for breakfast to discuss the prospect of the U.S. action film star launching a business in Russia, Rogozin wrote on Twitter.
In a response to a tweet about Seagal opening a business, Rogozin wrote: “Today we are discussing it with Steven at breakfast.” He later sent another Tweet featuring a photo of the two in an unidentified restaurant.
Seagal is looking to start a film production company in Russia as a joint venture with unspecified local partners, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week. The actor is a frequent visitor to Russia and has long fostered ties with officials like Rogozin and even President Vladimir Putin.
Martial arts enthusiast Seagal met with Putin — a judo black belt — to visit an aquarium on Russky Island in the Primorye region of Russia's Far East during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September. Seagal attended the forum with Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.
Earlier this month, a senior human rights official in the presidential administration, Yana Lantratova, proposed that Seagal join another Russia-friendly American celebrity, boxing champion Roy Jones Jr., to star as the faces of an anti-alcohol campaign.
Seagal and Anderson will return to Primorye this weekend to celebrate Tiger Day, a local environmental holiday, according to the local government's website.