The actor Steven Seagal has become an unlikely business envoy for a pre-Russian revolutionary arms factory after agreeing to feature in adverts marketing its weapons in the US. Seagal, known for starring in Hollywood martial arts films, told journalists about the plans on Tuesday during a tour of the Degtyaryov weapons factory in Kovrov, a city about 160 miles (260km) from Moscow.
"My friend Igor Kesayev invited me here. On his request, I will feature in adverts for Kovrov weapons for the US," the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Seagal as saying. "I trust Kesayev. Whatever's put in my hands, I will advertise." Kesayev – who has an estimated fortune of $2bn (£1.3bn), according to Forbes magazine – controls the Degtyaryov factory, which has made weapons including machine guns and rifles since 1916.
He is one of a series of influential Russians with whom the 61-year-old Seagal, the star Hard to Kill and Under Siege, appears to have bonded with: in recent months he has been seen hobnobbing with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov