A close up of French actor Gerard Depardieu, who has threatened to quit his homeland to avoid higher taxes, showing off his new Russian passport on January 6, 2013 at Mordovia airport in Saransk where he has been offered residence in this central Russia region known for Stalin-era Gulag labour camps. The former Oscar nominee travelled to snow-covered Mordovia a day after he met with strongman President Vladimir Putin at his sumptuous Black Sea villa in the resort town of Sochi for friendly banter over a meal.