Depardieu to visit Paris Сircus in Kyiv
A few days ago Depardieu, who owns a wine-making factory in France, visited a winery in the south of Ukraine.
On Thursday Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that satisfies the French actor’s request for Russian citizenship.
In his interview with journalists Depardieu said he adores Russia and is planning to master Russian.
Voice of Russia, Ekho Moskvy
Depardieu happy about his Russian citizenship
The press secretary of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov says that Russian citizenship has been granted to French actor Gerard Depardieu for his contribution to Russian culture.
On January 3, President Putin issued an order that satisfies Mr. Depardieu’s request to make him a Russian citizen.
“I am very grateful to Russia’s authorities for making me a Russian citizen,” Mr. Depardieu said in an interview to the main Russian TV channel. “I really love Russia. I love Russian people, Russian history, Russian literature. I love to play in Russian films. I love the Russian style of thinking. My father was a Communist and often listened to Radio Moscow, and my childhood memories are linked with that. I promise to learn Russian.”
Voice of Russia
Depardieu becomes Russian citizen
Natalia Kovalenko
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to French actor Gerard Depardieu. “To grant Gerard Xavier Depardieu, born in France in 1948, his request for Russian citizenship in line with clause ‘a’, Article 89 of the Russian Constitution,” the decree says.
Depardieu decided to change his citizenship following a tax reform by French President Francois Hollande, levying a 75% tax on citizens earning more than one million euros per year. The actor said that the decision of the new French authorities was an attempt to punish the well-off people for their “success, creativity and talent” and that he was moving to Belgium.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Depardieu’s decision to quit France “pathetic” and unpatriotic at a time when many French people are being asked to pay higher taxes to reduce the country’s debt. The offended 63-year old actor decided to give up French citizenship. He sold his mansion in Paris and bought a house in a Belgian village. Moving to Belgium was not difficult for the actor but the political resonance effect was huge, head of the institute of Strategic planning Alexander Gusev says.
“Europe is small and it is not difficult to change a place of residence, especially when the borders are open. Depardieu has bought the house which is located 800 meters from the Belgian-French border. This is an old trick, known in Western Europe since medieval times when knights used to move from one country to another hoping that tax burden would be much smaller there.”
Although later The French Constitutional Council found that levying of 75% tax was not legal and abandoned the measure this did not influence Depardieu’s decision to break all the contacts with official Paris.
During his annual press-conference in December Russian president Vladimir Putin was asked to comment on the case of Depardieu. The president said first that the French officials unlikely had an intention to offend the actor and added that Depardieu could count on Russian citizenship. When Gerard Depardieu learnt it from the news he applied for the Russian citizenship writing a letter to the Russian president. “Feeling affinity with Russian people in nature and spirit, without knowledge of the Russian language but with readiness to learn the required minimum to let people understand me, I am asking you to grant me a passport of the Great Nation. To me it will be a great honor. I love your country and I want to be its citizen” the actor wrote.
Gerard Depardieu has become a Russian citizen. It is not known if he is going to live in Moscow but if he decided to do so he won’t lose, the State Duma deputy and the chairman of parliamentary Committee for Nationalities Gadzhimet Safaraliev says.
“Our tax system is quite normal and acceptable for him. Besides that the actor is extremely popular in our country. He starred in many Russian-French productions. I think he will have a lot of proposals from our filmmakers, he will be well paid and there are good conditions for his business too.”
Earlier the president of Russia’s Chechen republic Ramzan Kadyrov said that Chechnya is ready to grant the great actor all the conditions for comfortable living on its territory. By the way Depardieu is known not only as a great actor but also as a wine maker and the Caucasus is known for its wines. If Depardieu decided to do his wine-making business there he could probably put a new spin on the regional winemaking.