Depardieu is made a Russian citizen
President Putin confers citizenship on Asterix and Rasputin actor - which means he could pay just 13% tax
TAX EXILE actor Gérard Depardieu has been awarded Russian citizenship in a decree directly from Vladimir Putin and announced on the Kremlin website today.
The Asterix actor told friends that Putin "has already sent a Russian passport" to replace the French one that he has reportedly sent back to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in anger at increasingly high taxes on the well-off.
Depardieu has set up home in Belgium and said he would apply for Belgian nationality, although Le Monde said he had told dinner companions in Paris that he had been offered citizenship by Belgium, plus Montenegro and Russia. Tchechen prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov is also said to have offered citizenship.
The 64-year-old said that the recent decision by the Conseil Constitutionnel to throw out President Hollande's 75% top-rate tax plan "changes nothing" in his desire to leave France.
Despite last week's -18C cold, he may be tempted to set up in Russia because he is a regular visitor and appears on several TV commercials. The 13% across-the-board tax rate could also be attractive as he says that he paid 85% on his revenues in 2012 and a total of €145million in taxes in his lifetime.
And last year he played Rasputin in a TV film for France3.
Depardieu has bought a house in Néchin, just one kilometre from Roubaix and the border with France, and this week his new mayor, Daniel Senesael, offered residents his New Year wishes while disguised as Asterix.
Photo: Europacorp
