Depardieu to meet Russian leader

French actor Gerard Depardieu has flown to Sochi where he is likely to meet with President Vladimir Putin and receive a Russian passport. Putin approved the actor's application for Russian citizenship on Thursday, causing a scandal in France, where Depardieu has been fighting a proposed 75% income tax on the superrich. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying Depardieu arrived in Sochi today, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and could meet with Putin tonight. Peskov said "it cannot be excluded that during the meeting Depardieu could receive a passport".