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Putin grants Russian citizenship to US athlete Jeffrey Monson

Monson is known for his fondness of Russia and its Soviet past

Jeffrey Monson Alexander Ryumin/TASS

Jeffrey Monson

© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree to grant Russian citizenship to US athlete Jeffrey Monson, born on January 18, 1971. The decree, signed on May 28, 2018, was published on the official legal information portal on Tuesday.

Monson, a mixed martial arts fighter, is a native of Minnesota. He has held 85 fights to win 60 of them. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion.

Monson is known for his fondness of Russia and its Soviet past. Many times he began his fights to the tune of the Soviet anthem. In 2016, he received the title of honorary citizen of Abkhazia and last year, a passport of the citizen of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic.

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