Ukrainian authorized agencies have banned around 40 Russian actors and singers from entering Ukraine over their illegal visits of Crimea, Head of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service Viktor Nazarenko has said.

"As for artists and other public figures from Russia who visited Crimea, today we have revealed around 40 people. We are thankful for the help provided by non-indifferent Ukrainian citizens and law enforcement services," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Nazarenko said that the ban is imposed for three years. The list includes singers Lolita Milyavskaya, Yulia Samoylova, Natasha Koroleva (Russian citizen Natalia Poryvai), Nikolai Dobrynin, Lyudmila Artemyeva and others.

He also said that in 2016, 5,400 foreigners were banned from entering Ukraine, including over 1,200 Russian citizens. This year the total number of bans reached 2,500, including 616 for Russian citizens.