Action Star Steven Seagal Banned From Ukraine For Support Of Vladimir Putin

Actor Steven Seagal has been banned from entering Ukraine because of alleged security concerns. The ban comes after Seagal personally received a Russian passport and citizenship from Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin in November.

First reported by The Guardian, the ban cites that Seagal, “committed socially dangerous actions … that contradict the interests of maintaining Ukraine’s security.” The Ukrainian security service first published the ban on the news site Apostrophe.

Ukraine and Russia are currently at war  and Seagal has been banned for his support of Putin.

Seagal has a long history of supporting Putin, once calling him “one of the greatest living world leaders,” to the Moscow Times in 2014. The action star also once played guitar for a pro-Putin biker crowed in 2014 as well.

Seagal’s support was directly related to the hostile action’s Putin took during Russia’s annexation of Crimea that year – a once autonomous region of Ukraine.

Urkaine and Russia have a complex history that has been the source of war and violence for the past three years. In 2013, then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was pro-Russia, suspended talks of an agreement with the European Union – Putin was not in support of the agreement. After backing out, pro-Western protestors took to the streets. Eventually, Yanukovych was ousted but in the power vacuum Putin sent unmarked Russian troops into Crimea and Ukraine. A war between pro-Western and pro-Russain groups – including their state backers – has ensued ever since.

Seagal’s ban is only set to last for five years.