The French actor Gdrard Depardieu has been granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin. Last month, Mr. Depardieu announced his intention to renounce his French citizenship over the government's decision to raise the top rate of tax to 75%. Hugh Schofield reports.
In a letter read out on Russian television, Gdrard Depardieu said that yes he had made a formal application for Russian citizenship and yes he was delighted that he'd now been granted thanks to the intervention of President Putin. "I adore your country, your history, your writers", the actor said in the letter. It would all be amusingly eccentric, were it not also extremely serious in its implications for France's international image which may explain why President Hollande held a telephone conversation with the actor on New Year's Day. According to a friend of Mr. Depardieu, the president wanted to know more about the actor's motives. Mr. Depardieu told him that it wasn't the money that was the main issue but he was disgusted by the way France, in his words, spat on initiative and success.
The US State Department has criticized plans by the chairman of the internet giant Google to visit North Korea. A spokeswoman said the timing of the visit by Eric Schmidt was unhelpful, following North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket in December. Mr. Schmidt is planning to make the trip with the former governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson. The State Department spokeswoman said the two men will be travelling as private citizens and will be carrying no messages from Washington.