Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) holds a Russian passport before presenting it to U.S. actor Steven Seagal during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, November 25, 2016. Sputnik/Kremlin/Alexei Druzhinin via REUTERS. 
 
 MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin presented a Russian passport to U.S. actor Steven Seagal on Friday and said he hoped it would serve as a symbol of how the fractious ties between Moscow and Washington are starting to improve. 
 
 At a Kremlin ceremony where Seagal signed his new passport in front of Putin, the Russian leader said: “I want to congratulate you and express the hope that this is another, albeit small, gesture and it might be a sign of the gradual normalization of relations between our countries.” 
 
 When Putin then asked how he was doing, the actor replied that “everything is good. We will talk later. For now just honored to be here.” 
 
 Putin, a fan of the kind of martial arts that Seagal often practices in his Hollywood action movies, signed an order at the start of this month to grant Russian citizenship to Seagal. 
 
 At the time, a Kremlin spokesman cited Seagal’s “warm feelings towards Russia” and his celebrity as the reasons for granting the gesture. 
 
 For more than a decade Seagal, who according to his own website is 64, has been a regular visitor to Russia. His movies, including such titles as “Under Siege” and “Sniper: Special Ops,” are popular with Russian audiences. 
 
 Seagal is the latest Western celebrity to have been given a Russian passport in the past few years. In 2013, Gerard Depardieu, a French actor, was given citizenship by Putin. 
 
 In the past two years, relations between Russia and Washington have deteriorated to their worst level since the Cold War as a result of the armed conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, where Moscow and Washington backed opposing sides. 
 
 Putin has expressed hope that, with the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president, relations will improve. Putin has praised Trump’s personal qualities, and the U.S. president-elect has said he wants friendly ties. ||||| 
 
 Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Steven Seagal at the Kremlin in Moscow on Nov. 25. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin via AP) 
 
 MOSCOW — In an ending fit for Hollywood, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday presented American action star Steven Seagal with a freshly minted Russian passport, consummating an odd-couple bromance that has blossomed despite years of dark relations between the two men's respective countries. 
 
 Seagal is the latest of an aging generation of movie stars and sportsmen to take Russian citizenship, including French actor Gerard Depardieu in 2013 and boxer Roy Jones Jr. in 2015. Celebrated here for '90s action flicks and YouTube compilations of him swearing in accented Russian, Seagal has become something of a cross-cultural confidant to Putin. In a 2013 interview with RT, Seagal called him “one of the greatest world leaders if not the greatest world leader alive today.” The men have at least two things in common: a love of martial arts and a dislike of the West's criticism of Moscow. 
 
 Seagal now has dual citizenship. 
 
 On Friday, Seagal accepted his new passport with an Aikido-inspired bow, a photograph distributed by the Russian tabloid LifeNews showed. 
 
 “I want to congratulate you and express the hope that this is another, albeit small, gesture and it might be a sign of the gradual normalization of relations between our countries,” Putin told Seagal, according to Reuters. (“Spasibo Bolshoye,” or “thank you very much,” the star of “Under Siege” and “Exit Wounds” replied.) The Kremlin first announced it had granted Seagal citizenship earlier this month. 
 
 
 
 Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a Russian passport for actor Steven Seagal during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Nov. 25. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin/via AP) 
 
 Seagal, whose grandmother was born in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, has made repeated, and often controversial, trips to Russia. In 2013, he met Chechnya's leader, strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, and danced an impromptu lezginka. In 2014, he joined a group of pro-Putin motorcyclists at a rally in the recently annexed peninsula of Crimea. A 2015 report by BuzzFeed News said that Putin suggested Seagal as an honorary consul to improve relations between the two countries. 
 
 The Moscow mobile operator Megafon has begun releasing advertisements with Seagal, including a version of the “mannequin challenge” at a recent press event. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Vladimir Putin wants all Russians to be tough like Steven Seagal 
 
 Steven Seagal traveled to Belarus to meet ‘Europe’s last dictator.’ They ate carrots 
 
 Which Vladimir Putin personality matches your own?
– New Russian citizen Steven Seagal received his passport from none other than Vladimir Putin himself during a ceremony Friday, the Washington Post reports. The Under Siege 2 star accepted the passport with an "Aikido-inspired bow." "I want to congratulate you and express the hope that this is another, albeit small, gesture and it might be a sign of the gradual normalization of relations between our countries," Reuters quotes Putin as saying to Seagal. The action star replied that he was "honored to be here." Seagal, whose grandmother was born in Russia, has visited the country for years and his movies remain popular there. He once called Putin "one of the greatest world leaders—if not the greatest world leader—alive today."