After French actor Gerard Depardieu, who received Russian citizenship recently and said he would leave France over high taxes, Bardot threatened to do the same thing in order to protect two elephants in a zoo in the city of Lyon.
The actress and animal rights activist had already publicly asked that the two elephants, ill with tuberculosis, be allowed to live.
“If those in power have the cowardice and impudence to kill the two elephants, Baby and Nepal, despite the numerous proposals to save them sent by my Foundation ... I have taken the decision to request the Russian citizenship in order to flee this country which is nothing more than a cemetery for animals,” Bardot wrote in a press release posted on her foundation’s website. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree giving Russian citizenship to Depardieu, who had publicly protested against plans by French President Francois Hollande to introduce a 75% tax on those earning more than 1 million euros ($1.3 million).
Last month, Depardieu said that he could count on 3 countries – Belgium, Montenegro and Russia – to give him citizenship.