bhramos
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MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted citizenship to French actor Gérard Depardieu, who has been embroiled in a bitter fight over taxes with France's government, the Kremlin said Thursday.
A statement posted on the government website said that Mr. Putin had signed a decree in response to "an application for citizenship of the Russian Federation" on behalf of "Depardieu Gérard Xavier, who was born in France in 1948."
A spokesman for Mr. Depardieu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Mr. Depardieu had applied for citizenship and that it had been granted on the basis of his "influence in the cultural realm," and his "significant role in films about Russian history and historical figures." In 2011, Mr. Depardieu starred as Grigori Rasputin in a French-made TV-movie on life of the controversial and influential Russian mystic.
In December, Mr. Putin publicly offered the 64-year-old thespian—whom he called a "friend"—citizenship if he were to apply after a report appeared in French newspaper Le Monde stating that the actor had told friends he was considering moving to Belgium, Montenegro or Russia to escape France's tough new tax regime.
"If Gérard really wants to have either a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we will assume that this matter is settled and settled positively," Mr. Putin said during his annual televised news conference Dec. 20.
Mr. Depardieu, star of such films as "Green Card" and "1492: Conquest of Paradise," said last month he was surrendering his French passport and social security after the country's Socialist government had proposed a top income-tax rate of 75% on high-wealth residents as part of its austerity budget. Russia has a flat income tax of 13%.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Mr. Depardieu's move "pathetic," and Mr. Depardieu angrily defended his actions in a letter printed in a French weekly, saying he had paid €145 million ($191 million) in taxes over 45 years.
"I've no place to complain or to boast, but I refuse to be described as pathetic," Mr. Depardieu wrote.
In late December, however, France's top constitutional authority ruled that the proposal for the tax on those earning more than €1 million was illegal as it affected only individuals and not households. The court said the measure would have affected just 1,500 individuals and was unfair because households with two people each earning just under €1 million a year wouldn't have had to pay the tax.
Following the court's Dec. 29 ruling, Mr. Depardieu told French newspaper Le Parisien, "It changes nothing," suggesting he remained inclined to leave France.
Putin Grants French Actor G�rard Depardieu Russian Citizenship - WSJ.com
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