Steven Seagal was banned from entering Ukraine for five years
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) banned American actor Steven Seagal from entering Ukraine for five years. Seagal also holds Serbian and Russian citizenship and he is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"On the grounds of Part 1, Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine 'On the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons' and Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine 'On the Fundamentals of National Security of Ukraine', the Security Service of Ukraine made a decision to ban the entry into Ukraine of the said person for a period of five years," the message of SBU said.
"The decision to ban entry to Ukraine is made if sufficient information is received in accordance with the procedure established by law regarding the commission of a socially dangerous act by the person (regardless of where it was committed geographically), which contradicts the interests of ensuring the security of Ukraine, the prevention, identification, termination and disclosure of which falls within the competence of the SBU," the SBU explained.
Seagal was included in the "black list" of individuals on Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) website. The site was created to identify separatists or the people who help them. Seagal was added to the list for illegally crossing the state border of Ukraine in the summer of 2014 and 2015 when he visited the Crimea, for denying the existence of Russian aggression and for supporting the annexation of the peninsula.
In November last year, Putin personally presented Steven Seagal with a Russian passport.