Pro-Russian propagandist from Austria refused entry to Ukraine

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has banned the head of the Ukrainian bureau of the Austrian television channel ORF, Christian Wehrschutz, from entering Ukraine with a view to ensuring the country's national security.

First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy Olha Chervakova reported this on Facebook.

"The chief of the Ukrainian bureau of the Austrian TV channel ORF, Christian Wehrschutz, has been banned from entering Ukraine for one year, according to my sources in the Security Service of Ukraine," she wrote.

The SBU believes that Wehrschutz poses a threat to national security.

The MP said that since the beginning of the armed conflict in Crimea and Donbas, Wehrschutz had covered events in Ukraine, "widely using the clichés of the Kremlin propaganda, spreading fake news from Russia Today which discredited the activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

According to Chervakova, over the past four years the foreigner has also visited the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk regions and the occupied Crimean peninsula through non-government controlled checkpoints from Russian territory.