Gerard Depardieu has been banned from entering the Ukraine for five years, according to local news reports.

The 66-year-old actor took Russian citizenship in 2013 in a bid to escape high taxes in his native France. He has recently attracted the anger of Ukrainian authorities by supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year.

The news website Apostrof has published what it said was a letter from Ukraine’s national security service, the SBU, saying Depardieu has been banned “in the interest of ensuring the security of our state.”

Gerard Depardieu at Cannes Film Festival 2014
Gerard Depardieu is known for being outspoken (Thibault Camus/AP)

The Interfax news agency quoted security spokeswoman Elena Gitlanskaya as saying that the ban came at the behest of the culture ministry. The ministry this month drafted a list of actors, musicians and other cultural figures it considers security threats.

Depardieu has been taking sanctuary in Belgium and Russia since quitting France in 2012 in a row over taxes.

Gerard Depardieu lights up on the red carpet at Cannes 2015
Gerard Depardieu has quit France in a row over taxes (Vianney Le Caer/Invision)

The Green Card star’s last big screen English-language role was in Life Of Pi in 2012. Last year he appeared in Abel Ferrara’s Welcome To New York, based on the rise and fall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, which was snubbed by the Cannes Film Festival.

Since moving to Russia he has shot several European films on location outside France.