Kremlin wants to 'enlighten' Gérard Depardieu after criticism of Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Kremlin has offered to give Gérard Depardieu "clarification" after the French actor criticized Russia's President Vladimir Putin for his war on Ukraine.

"Most likely, Depardieu does not fully understand what is going on," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to the Interfax news agency. "If necessary, we are ready to tell him everything and clarify things so that he understands better."

Depardieu, who has held a Russian passport for years and once called Putin his friend, had accused the head of the Kremlin on Thursday of "crazy, unacceptable lapses" that in turn led to the war in Ukraine.

The 73-year-old also announced he would donate all proceeds from three concerts in early April to Ukrainian war victims. The Russian people cannot be held responsible for Putin's actions, Depardieu said.

In Russia, the war on neighbouring Ukraine is officially described as a "special military operation" supposedly to "liberate" eastern Ukraine from ultranationalists.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov now accused Depardieu of ignoring what Moscow had done over the past eight years in the Donbass, the far eastern part of Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have been battling central government forces since 2014.

"Because he is not fully immersed in the political agenda, he does not understand ... what Donetsk and Luhansk are. He barely understands what bombing civilians means. It is unlikely that he knows anything about nationalist elements."

Putin recognized the two self-declared people's republics in Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbass as independent immediately before invading Ukraine on February 24.