David Duchovny stars in controversial Russian ad in MH17 crash's aftermath

Moscow (Agence France-Presse) - American actor David Duchovny has stirred up a storm of debate by appearing in an ultra-patriotic beer ad in which he fantasises about being Russian.

The glossy ad for a Russian beer brand is inspired by the eastern European origins of the star of The X-Files and Californation. "There is another country, where I got my family name from, and sometimes I wonder, what if things turned out differently, what if I were Russian?" he says in the ad posted last Friday on YouTube.

He said in interviews that his father had Polish and Russian roots. But in April the actor wrote on Twitter: "I grew up thinking I was Russian only to find recently that I've been Ukrainian all along. Never too late to change."

In the ad set to Soviet rock hits, he is shown as a ballet choreographer, a cosmonaut, a rock star and an ice hockey player and experiencing Russian traditions such as the banya, or steam bath. "Being Russian, I'd have many things to be proud of," he concludes in the ad.

Deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees defence, posted a link to the ad on Twitter, saying: "If you forget about what it is advertising, as a whole, it's made with love."

But American news site GlobalPost slammed Duchovny for appearing in what it called a "poorly timed, nationalistic ad" released shortly after the Malaysian airliner was downed in Ukraine.

State-run television broadcaster Rossiya 24 in turn criticised Duchovny for appearing in the ad after calling himself a Ukrainian. "That didn't stop the actor from appearing in an ad with a huge budget about pride in the Russian motherland," a news reader said acidly.

Much of present-day Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire.

The ad was one of the top trends on Russian Twitter over the weekend and has been viewed more than 900,000 times on YouTube. Some viewers said they found the ad moving but others criticised Duchovny for taking part. "Has David Duchovny gone completely mad? Maybe he'll be next to get a passport after Gerard Depardieu," wrote Twitter user Tatyana Samosudova.

Duchovny is not the only Western star to have apppeared in made-for-Russia ads. Depardieu has promoted a bank and a kitchen chain since gaining Russian citizenship in 2013. Bruce Willis advertises a bank.

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