Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner paid tribute to ORF’s Ukraine and Balkans correspondent this week, Christian Wehrschützwith the “Military Medal of Recognition”.
“I would like to thank Major Christian Wehrschütz for his incredible commitment as a correspondent in Ukraine and the Balkans. Especially in times of ‘fake news’, it is all the more important for Austrian journalists to report independently on the current situation in war zones. Despite the many dangers on the ground, Christian Wehrschütz makes an important contribution to the critical and transparent dissemination of information to the local population. With this award, we want to appreciate his commitment and thank him for his great achievements as an ORF correspondent and militia officer,” said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. ORF Director General Roland Weißmann: “As one of our most deserving journalists and at the same time a militia officer, Christian Wehrschütz has assessed the situations in war zones, such as most recently in Ukraine, with professional competence and has presented and explained the events to the ORF audience authentically and at first hand. I would like to thank Christian Wehrschütz for his sometimes dangerous work and congratulate him on this prestigious award.” https://militaeraktuell.at/sipri-russland-duerfte-den-krieg-weiter-durchhalten/ Christian Wehrschütz was born in Styria and graduated in law in Graz in 1985. Wehrschütz joined ORF in 1991 and worked as an editor for ORF Teletext for the first year. He then moved to ORF radio for seven years, where he worked in the current affairs department. In 1999, he was sent to Belgrade as a Balkan expert and was subsequently appointed ORF correspondent. His responsibilities as a correspondent and bureau chief include reporting on Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo and Albania. In 2015, Wehrschütz also took over the management of the ORF office in Kiev. The long-time ORF journalist speaks a total of eight foreign languages. These are English, French, Serbian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Albanian, Ukrainian and Russian. He has also been a militia officer in the Austrian Armed Forces since 1981 and currently holds the rank of Major. Wehrschütz is married and has two grown-up daughters. The “Military Medal of Recognition” is a military award and can be presented to individuals who have made special contributions to military national defense in the military or civilian field. The award is presented by the Federal Minister of National Defense.
