FX.co ★ Famous foreigners who have become Russian

Many of our compatriots are going to leave for permanent residence abroad, someone has already left and settled in a new place. However, some foreign stars, on the contrary, chose Russia as a new country for residence.

The American boxer Roy Jones Jr. received a Russian passport on October 27, 2015, in the Federal Migration Service of Russia. The Russian citizenship was granted to the athlete on September 12 of the same year, according to the decree of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to R. Jones, it is a great honor for him to be a citizen of Russia.

The lead singer of Limp Bizkit Fred Durst also seeks to obtain both Russian citizenship and a Russian passport, and in the future he wants to buy a house in Russia. The singer said this on the air of the radio station Rock FM.

The French actor Gerard Depardieu received a Russian passport on January 5, 2013, although he kept the French citizenship. Almost immediately the actor Depardieu was given an apartment in the capital of Mordovia, Saransk, and then a permanent residence permit. J. Depardieu is planning to buy an apartment in Moscow. He would also like to live in Siberia and at Baikal.

The two-time Olympic champion of the last year, a snowboarder Vic Wild agreed to receive a second citizenship after marrying a Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina. The pair exchanged rings in 2011, at the same time the American applied for Russian citizenship. This athlete is the only snowboarder in the world who won 2 gold medals at one Olympic Games.

The six-time Olympic champion short tracker Victor An from South Korea received Russian citizenship on December 26, 2011. At the Sochi Olympics in February 2014, V. An won three gold medals and one bronze medal.

At a press conference in September in 2015, the mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from the United States, Jeff Monson, announced his decision to accept Russian citizenship, explaining this not by political motives, but by inner spiritual necessity.

A long-cherished dream of the Japanese figure skater Yuko Kawaguti was participation in the 2010 Olympics. For this, the athlete was required to take Russian citizenship. And on December 23, 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree. At the same time, Y. Kawaguti refused Japanese citizenship, as the laws of the Land of the Rising Sun do not allow the existence of a second citizenship.

The famous French actress Brigitte Bardot stated her desire to obtain Russian citizenship after learning of the intention of the Lyon Zoo leadership to put two sick elephants down. Such statement from the actress, known recently as a protector of animals, is not surprising.

In 1997 the Georgian artist and sculptor Zurab Tsereteli received the title of president of the Russian Academy of Arts, but he obtained the citizenship of Russia only 6 years later, in 2003.