By Shari Miller PUBLISHED: 08:32 EST, 6 January 2013 | UPDATED: 18:43 EST, 6 January 2013 As a former KGB chief, Vladimir Putin is used to dealing with defectors. Maybe that’s why he was so happy to greet French tax rebel Gerard Depardieu yesterday after granting him Russian citizenship. The actor, 64, has been accused of betrayal after quitting his homeland to avoid a new 75 per cent tax rate for millionaires. Warm welcome: Depardieu was offered citizenship and a passport by the Russian President Open arms: Russian President Vladimir Putin greets French actor Gerard Depardieu Welcomed: French actor Gerard Depardieu poses with his new Russian passport on a theatre stage, wearing a traditional folk outfit, after he arrived in the city of Saransk, 435 miles east of Moscow, Russia, on Sunday
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Star of Green Card quit homeland over proposed 75 percent income tax
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Depardieu given a warm welcome by President Vladimir Putin
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Actor has been accused of national betrayal by critics in France
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Brigitte Bardot claims he was a 'victim of extremely unfair persecution'
would be welcome in @placeholder, which has a flat income tax rate of 13