SEAGAL BANNED FROM UKRAINE

90’s action movie star Steven Seagal has been blacklisted from the country Ukraine on the grounds that he is a threat to their national security and has “committed socially dangerous actions… that contradict the interests of maintaining Ukraine’s security. He isn’t allowed to enter the country for a period of five years. He is considered a threat to national security because of his ties to Russia. Seagal, the star of movies like “Hard To Kill” or “Under Siege,” is a good friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and they’ve bonded over martial arts for several years. Putin has a black belt in judo, while Seagal has one in aikido. He’s been visiting Russia since the 1990’s. He participated in a Pro-Putin motorcycle rally in 2014. Seagal defended Russia’s annexation of Crimea after an overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and said that the actions Russia took were reasonable. He lost a gig at a music festival in Estonia for those comments as well. Putin proposed to make him an honorary Russian Envoy to the United States. Putin also granted Seagal Russian citizenship, and gave him a passport at a formal ceremony. Seagal has also been in other countries around Russia. He once visited Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, and ate some of his homegrown vegetables. Lukashenko is infamous for being the last dictator in Europe. Seagal also rode in armor on horseback in Kyrgyzstan and has danced traditional dances in Chechnya. All of this has led Ukraine to associate Seagal with their enemy Russia, and ultimately resulted in him being banned. Putin and Seagal have made no comments about the ban, but many people have expressed their anger over it.