ABOVE: Watch Mickey Rourke buy a Vladimir Putin T-shirt in Moscow.
TORONTO — Actor Mickey Rourke lined up Monday inside a Moscow department store to buy a T-shirt bearing the likeness of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“If I didn’t like him, I wouldn’t buy the T-shirt, believe me,” Rourke told reporters.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia are tense but The Wrestler star said he only cares about his personal relations.
With his 27-year-old girlfriend Anastassija Makarenko at his side, the 61-year-old said he doesn’t give “a f*** about the politics.”
“To me, it’s all about the family,” said Rourke.
Rourke, who purchased the Putin T-shirt from the GUM store just off Red Square for about $36 CDN, unabashedly praised the Russian leader.
“I met him a couple of times and he was a real gentleman,” said Rourke. “A very cool, regular guy. Looked me right in the eye. Good guy.”
Putin is under fire around the world for his war with Ukraine — including allegations he facilitated the downing of a commercial jet last month, killing nearly 300 people.
The Russian president has also been widely criticized for a crackdown on gays and lesbians in his country.
Rourke’s public support for Putin comes after Steven Seagal performed a concert in Crimea in support of pro-Russian separatists. At one point, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, Seagal held up a T-shirt with Putin’s face on it.
Putin has described Seagal, 62, as a long time friend.
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