Steven Seagal treated to watermelon and lard by Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko
Veteran actor big fan of Eastern Europe and good friend of Vladimir Putin
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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Action hero Steven Seagal was treated to a crop of watermelons and a meal of lard from a man known as the “last dictator of Europe”.
The Hollywood actor, a friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin, also accepted some freshly-harvested carrots from Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko.
Seagal has "long wanted to meet" the stern ruler - known for governing the Eastern European country with an iron fist - according to Presidential spokeswoman Natalya Eismont.
The veteran actor is a fan of Eastern Europe and is regularly hosted by Putin, who bizarrely proposed he become a Russian envoy to the US.
According to Buzzfeed, the idea was raised by the Eastern European leader when he met with Barack Obama at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
“Our reaction was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’” a US official who was present at the Lough Erne meeting told BuzzFeed News.
Seagal is a seventh dan black belt in the Japanese martial art Aikido and last June a video emerged of him flooring two opponents at the All-Russian Sambo Tournament in Saratov.
He was offended by speculation that his opponents were letting him win after they appeared to put up a weak fight.
When asked if the video was legitimate, Seagal replied: "I'm gonna try not to be insulted man.
“I've been doing martial arts all my life. How could it be fake?”
During last year's harvest, Lukashenko – a keen farmer - hosted French actor Gerard Depardieu and gave him a lesson in hand scything.
Seagal has a consultancy contract with a Belarusian online game developer.
He has Russian roots and his grandmother’s family is from Vladivostok.
He met Lukashenko at the presidential residence of Drozdy outside the Belarus capital of Minsk.
Lukashenko was re-elected for a fifth term in October last year, although the authoritarian leader of 21 years faced no serious competition in the election.
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