Gerard Depardieu picks up Russian passport

Now, you'll have to refer to him as Russian actor Gérard Depardieu.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has given the well-fed French thespian a passport after he left Paris to avoid higher taxes.

They also embraced in front of the TV cameras at the president's vacation residence in Sochi. The town will be home to the 2014 Olympics.

Earlier, Depardieu announced he was moving to Belgium.

He's ticked off at French president Francois Hollande's decision to impose significantly higher taxes on French citizens making more than one million euros per year.