MOSCOW - US boxer Roy Jones Jr. officially requested Russian citizenship Thursday after drinking tea with Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin on the Crimea peninsula Moscow snatched from Ukraine last year.
A picture taken on August 19, 2015 shows Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shaking hands with US boxer Roy Jones Jr during a meeting in Sevastopol, Crimea
Russia has a history of granting citizenship to flamboyant Westerners, including French actor Gérard Depardieu, who was handed a Russian passport in 2013 after he lambasted France's tax laws.
"I feel very popular in this country, like Michael Jackson in America," Jones said in comments translated into Russian by TASS news agency.
"Russians' attitudes cannot but inspire love, that's why I want to be with this people."
The 46-year-old pugilist, famed for winning world titles in four different weight categories before branching out into music and acting, is in Crimea to appear as a guest at a boxing show on Sunday.
Boxing promoter Vladimir Khryunov, who works with Jones in Russia, said his protégé would not renounce his US citizenship.
Jones on Wednesday drank tea with President Vladimir Putin, who told him he would gladly grant him Russian citizenship if he was to link "a significant part" of his life to activities in Russia.
Putin, a judo black-belt, has previously hung out with a number of Western muscle-bound celebrities, including US actor Steven Seagal and Hollywood star Jean-Claude Van Damme.