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GERARD DEPARDIEU, THE French actor who has threatened to quit his homeland to avoid higher taxes for the rich, has received a Russian passport and met with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has confirmed today.
Depardieu met Putin, who earlier granted him citizenship, at the Russian leader’s sumptuous residence in the palm-dotted Black Sea resort of Sochi on Saturday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP.
Putin granted Depardieu “a short meeting” and did not personally deliver the document to the actor, Peskov added without saying where and when Depardieu “was handed his passport.”
National television broadcast images of the Sochi meeting featuring Depardieu and Putin hugging each other and sharing a meal at Putin’s residence.
Dressed casually in a white shirt and a dark jacket, Depardieu asked the Russian strongman whether he had seen a new film about the mysterious Tsarist monk Grigory Rasputin played by the French actor.
“Did you see the movie at all? I had sent (it) to you,” Depardieu said in remarks translated into Russian, appearing to use the familiar form of address to speak to Putin.
The film is a France-Russia co-production about a monk who was famous for his mystical influence over Russia’s last Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra and was assassinated in December 1916 by a group of discontented aristocrats.
“Gerard, are you pleased with your work?” Putin, who also wore a shirt without a tie, asked the actor.
“I am very much pleased with everything,” Depardieu replied, praising the Russian actors who co-starred with him in the movie.
Oleg Dobrodeyev, chief of state television broadcaster VGTRK, who was also present at the meeting, said the film would be released to the general public in May.
Row over income tax
Moscow’s decision to grant citizenship to the star of Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Card and the Asterix and Obelix series was the latest volley in a row between the actor and the French government over its attempt to raise the tax rate on earnings of more than €1 million to 75 percent.
(AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)
When Depardieu first announced he would leave the country to avoid the tax, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault branded the move “pathetic”.
Depardieu, who can easily earn up to two million euros per film and who has extensive business interests in France and elsewhere, will qualify for the 13 per cent tax rate if he spends at least six months of the year in Russia.
Earlier this week Russian television broadcast the contents of a letter in which the former Oscar nominee declared his love for Putin and called Russia a “great democracy”.
The Kremlin move and the actor’s comments praising Russia sparked amusement and disbelief among many in the country.
‘Unsavoury behaviour’
The eccentric actor has been a huge star in Russia since the Soviet era and still enjoys cult status among many movie buffs.
But in recent years, he has also raised many eyebrows with his often unsavoury behaviour.
In 2011, Depardieu shocked passengers on a Paris to Dublin flight when he relieved himself on the cabin floor.
He was arrested last November after falling off his scooter, which he had been riding while more than three times over the legal alcohol limit.
Last October he attended a concert in Chechnya on its leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s birthday accused by activists of heavy-handed tactics towards his critics and spoke on stage in broken Russian, saying: “Glory to Grozny, glory to Chechnya… Glory to Kadyrov!”
Depardieu is also planning to star in a historic serial penned by the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s strongman President Islam Karimov.
Critics branded the move to grant Depardieu citizenship as a PR stunt aimed at deflecting public attention from Putin’s recent decision to ban adoptions of Russian children by US citizens.
In a surreal twist to the saga over Depardieu’s move, cinema legend Brigitte Bardot this week threatened to follow him out of France unless two elephants under threat of being put down are granted a reprieve.
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Why do the journal not name the tramps that have been charged with the vicious assault on Tom Niland?
@Gavin Linden: they will be named soon enough.
@OConnelj: They are named every where else though.
@Gavin Linden: I didn’t know that Gavin, I haven’t looked.
@OConnelj: when you say “everywhere else” do you mean reputable news sources or some posts on social media?
@OConnelj: RTÉ have named them on their site
@Gavin Linden: they are named in the article about them
In all honesty, though, who gives rice milk to children and thinks it’s a healthy choice?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: It’s scary that they even have to tell people this, but I remember some poor Belgian child dying a few years ago cause their vegan parents somehow thought it was a good idea to wean them on to the like of this. Remember this is a world where they need to put warnings on microwave manuals, to not put animals in them.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: people who’s children have an intolerance to diary which is very common. The problem is people try alternatives without consulting a nutritionist. Probably due to the expense.
@Rmaybe: goats milk is a safe alternative, the makeup of goats milk is the nearest of all milks to breast milk.
The world is gone mad isn’t it?
@Paul Gorry: is it though? Was it always? And now we are of an age to see it for what it really is?
@Dearbhla O Reilly: caps of to you Dearbhla very fair point.
Cows milk is for calves. I’ll take my chances with arsenic atm
@Susan McMahon: cows milk may be for calves but if you think drinking something natural like that is wrong how to you reconcile drinking milk from rice. Rice! Surely something that can only exist as a result of an industrial manufacturing process can’t be better than drinking cows milk? Does your cat feel the same way? I mean how do you even milk rice? Their nipples must be tiny.
@Susan McMahon: I’m sure you drank your fair share of milk when you were young, so if it’s only for calves, that would make you a cow now.
@Susan McMahon: cows milk is for calves. Correct. There is no evidence to show that cows milk is harmful for humans. Also correct
@Susan McMahon: It’s been good enough for humans for the last 10,000 years. So much so that we’ve almost lost our adult lactose intolerance that other mammals keep. Now that’s progress!
@Ivan Connolly: Cats have lactose intolerance. Even though they may enjoy the odd plate of milk, they tend to have nasty diarrhoea afterwards.
@Susan McMahon: Thats not what the article is about, it about possibly poisoning children with oat extract.
Vegan warriors trying to push their way on us .. if I want a sizzling steak with cheese and a big pint of milk I will have it so pipe down . 95% of the country like it that way
@Gerrard: who are you telling to pipe down? Reading through the comments it doesn’t look like anyone is trying to dictate to you.
This got a mention on Joe Duffy yesterday as a viable alternative.
@Pat Barry: As part of a balanced diet, rice milk can be fine. As a substitute for infant formula or breast milk – not so much.
Rice extract can be a usual diet supplement. It is not milk, nr is any of the other overly prices “milks” being sold. It is extract from nuts.
The arrogance of people to decide to feed a child a substance that can kill the child due to their beliefs is frightening.
Not surprising as there are plenty of anti vaxers out there.
As for vegans, fine if you want to be one, off you go. Just please do not hold a high and mighty attitude and lecture us. Who choose not to be. I respect your decision, not respect mine. I dont want to be told that I am eating a baby, when eating meat. I am eating a farm animal. Possibly a young farm animal. Not a baby. Besides all you do is make me more determined to eat more meat. I try and eat as much free range and ethically farmed meat as possible. It is not always possible on a pension. I am not a middle class professional earning good money.
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