Steven Seagal becomes the face of Russian arms firm

The actor Steven Seagal has become an unlikely business envoy for a pre-Russian revolutionary arms factory after agreeing to feature in adverts marketing its weapons in the US.

Seagal, known for starring in Hollywood martial arts films, told journalists about the plans on Tuesday during a tour of the Degtyaryov weapons factory in Kovrov, a city about 160 miles (260km) from Moscow.

"My friend Igor Kesayev invited me here. On his request, I will feature in adverts for Kovrov weapons for the US," the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Seagal as saying. "I trust Kesayev. Whatever's put in my hands, I will advertise."

Kesayev – who has an estimated fortune of $2bn (£1.3bn), according to Forbes magazine – controls the Degtyaryov factory, which has made weapons including machine guns and rifles since 1916.

He is one of a series of influential Russians with whom the 61-year-old Seagal, the star Hard to Kill and Under Siege, appears to have bonded with: in recent months he has been seen hobnobbing with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

In March, Putin showed Seagal a newly built martial arts complex in Moscow, which was created to promote physical education among young Russians. After the event, the president's official spokesman said Putin and Seagal had long been friends.

The actor told a Russian online TV channel that he had Russian relatives. "I'm Russian, I love Russia, I love Russian people, and I love your president. I really like that he does so much to support martial arts in Russia," Seagal told the Dozhd TV channel.

Kadyrov, whom human rights activists accuse of persecuting opponents, praised Seagal last month after the actor visited Chechnya and performed an improvised lezginka, a traditional Chechen dance in the capital, Grozny.

The actor's Los Angeles-based agent was not immediately available for comment on his client's ties with Russian officials.

Although an improbable intermediary between two former cold war enemies, Seagal is building a reputation as a favoured go-between for Russian and US officials.

At a meeting in March, the Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, asked Seagal to lobby US legislators to abolish restrictions on the sale of Russian weapons.

Last week Seagal was said to have helped arrange meetings with senior Russian officials for a group of US congressmen visiting Russia in the hope of boosting counter-terrorism ties between the two countries.