Profile: Iosif Kobzon, Russian crooner and MP

Iosif Kobzon – a veteran Russian variety singer-turned-politician – has been added to the EU sanctions list.

It is another badge of honour for the “Russian Frank Sinatra”, the ever-loyal crooner, politician and businessman.

“I spit on their sanctions,” he said with a proud grin on Russian television on Monday.

“I’m very pleased and grateful,” he said in another interview.

His only regret was that he would be unable to visit his daughter and grandchildren. His daughter is married to an Australian citizen and lives in the UK.

But he remained defiant.

“My enemies accuse me of performing in Donbas and Crimea. I will go there again,” he said, and announced his next dates in Donetsk and Luhansk later this month.

Like many other supporters of President Vladimir Putin, he has very publicly backed the pro-Russian rebels fighting the Ukrainian government.

It is not the first time the 77-year-old singer has been blacklisted by Western states.

Since 1994 he has been repeatedly denied a US visa, despite almost annual applications, although not on political but crime-related grounds.

The original rejection quoted his involvement “in unlawful activity”. He was allegedly closely connected to a Russian gangland boss, Vyacheslav Ivankov (nicknamed “Yaponchik”), who died in Moscow in 2009 from multiple bullet wounds.