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Actor Sean Penn reflected on meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Thursday interview with late night host Jimmy Kimmel amid rising tensions in eastern Europe.
Penn and Putin crossed paths during the Moscow International Film Festival in 2001 during a dinner with approximately 20 people, including actor Jack Nicholson.
“I can time-capsule it for you because it was approximately two or three weeks after then-President Bush said, ‘I looked into his eyes and I felt like I trusted him.’ And I have to say, when I say that, I was conned also,” Penn said during the Thursday episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“I felt that there was something genuine there,” he continued.
The actor said after more than three years of war in Ukraine, his opinion of the Kremlin leader has changed.
“Now, we know that he’s very willing to kidnap 30,000 kids, murder a lot of people, and teach those kids to hate their parents and their country, and yet our country isn’t together enough to realize we should give them the resources to defeat him,” Penn told Kimmel.
Penn, who made a documentary about the Ukraine war in 2023, has committed to speaking out publicly against Russian incursions in eastern Europe.
“This horror show that has been initiated by Russia is not something for us to forget and get lost in the kind of personality chaos,” Penn said during a February appearance on NewsNation’s “Cuomo.”
“What we also know is that people are dying today on the front line, and they’re dying honoring the very thing that we honor most, which is freedom, all of us together,” the “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Mystic River” star added.
The Kremlin has struck Kyiv multiple times in recent weeks, even launching a drone attack on Ukraine that seeped into Polish territory.
NATO leaders are currently evaluating their response and best course of action after the uptick in aggression.
In August, President Trump met with Putin in Alaska, where both leaders left signaling hope for a ceasefire in the coming weeks.
However, repeated strikes on civilians in Ukraine have continued.
