Kyiv denies Austrian pro-Russian journalist entry to Ukraine
The Head of Ukrainian Bureau of the Austrian television channel ORF, Christian Vershutsu has been banned from entering Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU)The reason is the threat he poses to national security.
“The head of the Ukrainian bureau of the Austrian television channel ORF, Christian Vershutsu, was banned from entering Ukraine for one year. This is reported by my sources in the Ukrainian Security Service,” the first deputy head of the Rada Committee on Freedom of Expression and Information Policy, Olga Chervakova wrote on Facebook.
“From the beginning of the armed conflict in the Crimea and the Donbas, Vershutsu covered events in Ukraine, extensively using Kremlin propaganda and replicating fakes from Russia Today (Russian propaganda outlet), which discredit the activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, deny Russian aggression against Ukraine, and label Russian serviceman as militia,” said Chervakova.
According to the deputy’s information, for the last for years the journalist has visited the separatist-held territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions through uncontrolled checkpoints from the territory of Russia.