Actor and former bodybuilder Jean-Claude Van Damme has addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a strange new video message published on Telegram by pro-Russian Ukraine-born journalist Diana Panchenko.
Panchenko has been accused of treason by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) in 2023.
Van Damme said in the video that he was ready to come to Russia and become “an ambassador of peace”.
"We want to come to Russia. We will try to do this the way you want to do this, to be an ambassador of peace. I would love to be... I would be honourred to have this title…”
The action star then recounted a protracted anecdote about how he and Putin met in Sochi at a martial arts event and how their shoes touched. He indeed visited Russia in 2010 and in 2007, when he attended a reception in St. Petersburg (see picture below).
The Muscles from Brussels concluded the video by saying: "Let’s do this. Ambassador of peace. We won’t talk politics – only about peace, sport and happiness. We love you.”
At the end of the appeal, Van Damme blew a kiss to Russia and sent “a big kiss to Putin and his family.”
Tasteless declarations of love aside, Van Damme hit headlines earlier this month when he was accused of allegedly meeting with several people under investigation for sex trafficking crimes – people who offered to let him have sex with five Romanian models as a "gift."
The Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) reportedly filed a criminal complaint against the Belgian actor, with this alleged incident having taken place in Cannes. No timeframe was noted.
Adrian Cuculis, the lawyer of one of the alleged victims, stated: “At an event organised by Jean-Claude Van Damme in Cannes, several Romanians, who are currently under investigation for forming a criminal group and pimping, allegedly offered Jean-Claude Van Damme five Romanian women - photo models in Romania - for sex.”
He added: “The person who received these services was aware of their condition.”
Van Damme has denied the accusations of knowingly engaging in sexual relations with women he knew to be trafficked, with the actor’s agent calling the claims “unfounded”.
“We have become aware of articles alleging an alleged affair in Cannes involving Mr Jean-Claude Van Damme,” Patrick Goavec said in a statement. “The reported facts are both grotesque and non-existent. Mr Van Damme does not wish to comment or fuel this rumour, which is as absurd as it is unfounded.”
