Steven Seagal appeared at Putin's big Victory Day celebration next to a biker gang

• Russia's antecedently toned-down Victory Day parades aimed to bring backmost its subject splendor this year.

• That was evident by the quality of modern tanks, combatant jets, drones, and adjacent Xi Jinping.

• But it wasn't conscionable subject and governmental leaders successful attendance. Steven Seagal showed up too.

As dozens of Russia-aligned satellite leaders gathered successful Moscow to wage homage to its military, authorities media spotted 1 impermanent lasting retired from the assemblage — the '90s Hollywood enactment star, Steven Seagal.

Between shots of armored vehicles rumbling down the cobbled streets adjacent the Kremlin, Seagal appeared concisely successful a close-up during authorities media outlet Izvestia's sum of Russia's Victory Day.

A abstracted clip of the movie martial creator moving done the assemblage connected Friday besides circulated connected societal media implicit the weekend.

The French quality bureau Agence France-Presse reported from Moscow that Seagal was seen sitting adjacent a Russian nationalist biker pack called the Night Wolves.

Seagal, a longtime person of Russian person Vladimir Putin, has been vocal astir his enactment for Moscow and gained Russian citizenship successful 2016. Russia's overseas ministry made Seagal a peculiar typical successful 2018 to beforehand Russian civilization to the US, and helium continued to publically align himself with the Kremlin aft it invaded Ukraine.

He wasn't the lone US movie property to be Friday's parade. Oliver Stone, a three-time Oscar-winning manager who's made a four-hour documentary astir Putin, was besides photographed astatine the event.

Stone has besides often praised Putin, calling the second a "great leader" successful a May 2023 interrogation with The Guardian. The manager was photographed shaking Putin's manus during a reception for overseas leaders connected Friday.

Their quality astatine the parade marks however Russia sought to elevate the grandeur of this year's lawsuit for the 80th day of Nazi Germany's surrender successful World War II.

The past 2 years' Victory Day parades had featured scaled-back processions, mostly believed to beryllium owed to Russia conserving resources specified arsenic tanks and craft for the war. A fewer satellite leaders — mostly from eastbound European and cardinal Asian states — had appeared to ticker the event.

On Friday, however, Moscow enactment connected a afloat amusement for astir 2 twelve leaders, including China's Xi Jinping, successful attendance.

Iskander and Yars ballistic missiles, Tornado-S aggregate rocket launchers, and modern T-90 main conflict tanks wheeled past a raft of cameras connected the street, and Su-25 combatant jets roared implicit cardinal Moscow with colored smoke.

Also featured successful the procession for the archetypal clip were Russian onslaught drones, which person go the Kremlin's staple weapons successful the war.

The days starring up to the parade, meant to beryllium a objection of Russia's spot and assurance successful its military, saw Ukraine threatening Moscow with respective waves of attempted drone strikes that forced adjacent airports to adjacent temporarily.

Ukrainian person Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned satellite leaders earlier that week that they could look hazard by attending the Victory Day parade.

"Our presumption is precise elemental for each countries travelling to Russia connected May 9: We cannot beryllium held liable for what happens connected the territory of the Russian Federation," Zelenskyy said.

During the existent parade, Russia chopped disconnected net entree successful cardinal Moscow and said it had stepped up measures to antagonistic imaginable drone threats.

Read the archetypal nonfiction connected Business Insider