UNDATED (CNN) -- French movie star Gerard Depardieu is now a russian citizen. 

Friday, he announced he accepted Russian citizenship after President Vladimir Putin personally granted it to him by decree.

He recently fled his native France in protest over government plans for a tax hike on the richest.

He's probably best-known in the U.S. for starring in the 1990 film "Green Card," where his character marries an American woman in order to get permanent residence in the states.