Russia welcomes France's tax exile
Source: Agencies |
January 7, 2013, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FRENCH film star Gerard Depardieu met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea town of Sochi and obtained his Russian passport, the Kremlin said yesterday.
The "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Green Card" star has left his homeland to avoid a new tax rate for millionaires.
Putin signed a decree on Thursday granting Russian citizenship to Depardieu, who objected to French Socialist president Francois Hollande's tax plan.
The Russian president and Depardieu were shown on television shaking hands and hugging each other yesterday during what the Kremlin said was a private visit. "A brief meeting between the president and Depardieu took place," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "On the occasion of his visit to Russia, he was handed a Russian passport."
Depardieu is popular in Russia, where he has appeared in many advertising campaigns. He also worked there in 2011 on a film about eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.
Depardieu bought a house in Belgium last year to avoid the French income tax increase. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called his decision to seek Belgian residency "pathetic" and unpatriotic.
Last month, Putin said Depardieu would be welcome in Russia, which has a flat income tax rate of 13 percent, compared to the 75 percent on income over 1 million euros (US$1.30 million) Hollande wants to levy in France.
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