On a visit to Moscow to promote the opening of his new sushi restaurant, U.S. actor Robert De Niro said "maybe" to the question of whether he would like to receive Russian citizenship, the TASS news agency reported.
The 72-year-old actor kept reporters waiting for 90 minutes before making an appearance at the Crocus City mall in the Moscow region city of Krasnogorsk, TASS reported. When asked if he would like to request Russian citizenship — as French actor Gerard Depardieu and U.S. boxer Roy Jones Jr. did before him — De Niro said: “Maybe. … As you can imagine, this is a complicated situation, so we'll see,” TASS reported Monday.
De Niro was visiting Russia to promote the opening of a new branch of Nobu, an upscale sushi restaurant chain he co-owns, the TASS news agency reported Monday.
De Niro last visited Russia in 2009, when the first Moscow branch of Nobu opened on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Ulitsa.
The American actor and businessman first visited Moscow in 1987 when he led the jury at the Moscow International Film Festival. The actor's most famous films include “Once Upon a Time in America,” “The Godfather,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Meet the Parents.”