Putin grants French actor, Depardieu, Russian citizenship (Video)

Russian President Putin's feelings that Russia is a greater democracy than the United States appears to have a following with a French actor just being granted citizenship in Russia. Al Jazeera has reported on Jan. 3, 2013, Putin grants Depardieu Russian citizenship. The French film star Depardieu gave up on his native homeland of France to avoid a tax hike on the rich and has been granted citizenship to Russia by President Vladimir Putin. Depardieu had bought a house across the French border in Belgium last year in order to avoid a new tax rate for millionaires in France which was planned by Socialist President Francois Hollande, but said he could also seek tax exile elsewhere.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, is reported to have said on Thursday that the former Oscar nominee, who played the role of the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin in 2011, decided to apply for citizenship after Putin said he would be welcome in Russia. Peskov has said, "The citizenship could not have been granted to him without such an appeal." The Kremlin's website has stated Putin had signed a decree which has granted Depardieu citizenship. Russia now has a flat income tax rate of 13 percent, in comparison with the 75 percent on income over $1.32m that socialist President Francois Hollande
wants to impose in France.

The BBC has also covered this story, Gerard Depardieu 'pleased' to become Russian citizen. In an open letter, Depardieu said he loved Russia, calling it "a great democracy". Mr Depardieu has recently announced that he would give up his French passport after the French government criticized his decision to move abroad to avoid higher taxes. In the letter, which was broadcast on Thursday on Russian TV station Pervyi Kanal, Mr Depardieu said: "I filed a passport application and I am pleased that it was accepted. I love your country, Russia - its people, its history, its writers. love your culture, your intelligence."

MandelNews.com