A Russian journalist who protested against it invasion of Ukraine for holding a banner during a live TV broadcast was arrested by the country’s police, her lawyer revealed.
Ukrainian-born Marina Ovsyannikova, 43, who has been dubbed the “bravest woman on TV”, was arrested by Russian police on Sunday and her whereabouts are unknown.
The mother of two is known to have resisted Putin‘s propaganda machine by interrupting a live broadcast and clutching a sign that read: “No to war, stop this war – propaganda lies to you”.
She was arrested and fined after shocking viewers of Russia’s state brainwashing organization Channel One by jumping in front of the camera with a large placard and shouting an anti-war slogan.
In a message on the journalist’s Telegram account, her entourage said: “Marina was arrested. There is no information as to where she is.”
Ukrainian-born Marina Ovsyannikova, 43, who has been dubbed the “bravest woman on TV”, was arrested by Russian police on Sunday and her whereabouts are unknown
In April she was hired by the German media company Welt as a “freelance correspondent” to report for the newspaper Welt and for the television news channel Welt, including from Ukraine and Russia.
With a daily circulation of around 180,000 copies in Germany, Welt is the respected flagship of the Axel Springer publishing group and most closely resembles the Daily Telegraph.
Welt Group editor-in-chief Ulf Porschardt said he was looking forward to working with Ovsyannikova, adding that her on-air protest “defends the most important journalistic ethic – despite the threat of state repression”.
“At a crucial moment, Marina Ovsyannikova had the courage to confront the Russian viewers with an unvarnished view of reality,” he continued.
Ovsyannikova made international headlines when she stormed a live broadcast of the state news channel, where she was a senior producer, and shouted, “They are lying to you”.
The mother-of-two famously opposed Putin’s propaganda machine by interrupting a live broadcast and clutching a sign that read: “No to war, stop this war – propaganda lies to you.”
The transmission was very quickly switched to another segment, and Ovsyannikova was arrested and arrested.
She disappeared for a few days and the worst was feared for her as Russia’s parliament had just passed a new law punishing journalists with 15 years in prison for not following the Kremlin’s line.
Through this law, Putin has caused independent media to speak of a “special military operation” rather than a “war” or an “invasion” and to deny mass casualties.
She ended up being fined just £227 by a Russian court – a fraction of the retribution expected, sparking a range of theories about the true nature of her protest.
Some of these theories range from Ovsyannikova being a Kremlin factory to a “British spy” for the Channel One news boss.
Ovsyannikova has remained in Russia after her arrest and fine and appears to have dodged the worst of government reprisals, but she told Reuters last month that she was concerned for her safety and hoped her protest would open Russians’ eyes to propaganda.
She has also described what Russia is calling a “special operation” in Ukraine, a war and invasion that risks further wrath and a possible 15-year prison sentence.
In her first report to her new employers earlier this year, she spoke of minor persecution she has faced since the protest.
She was stripped of her membership at a swimming pool, a pet store refused to supply her with dog food, and found her car with all four tires flat and a dead battery.
During an interview with American media, the 43-year-old journalist also said she turned down French President Emmanuel Macron’s offer of asylum because “she is a patriot” and wanted to live in Russia.
“I want to tell everyone that the Russian people are really against the war,” Ovsyannikova told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week. “It’s Putin’s war, not the Russian people’s war.”
‘[It] was a spontaneous decision for me to go live on the air, but dissatisfaction with the current situation has been piling up for many years because the propaganda on our state channels has become more and more distorted,” she added.
“I came to work and after a week of reporting this situation, the atmosphere on the first channel was so uncomfortable that I realized I couldn’t go back there.”
Ovsyannikova said she thought about supporting an anti-war protest in Moscow Square – likely referring to the city’s Red Square – but quickly realized that imprisonment would be “pretty useless”.
“I decided that maybe I could do something else, something more meaningful, where I could get more attention and show the rest of the world that the Russians are against the war,” she said Sunday.
“I could show the Russian people that this is just propaganda, expose this propaganda for what it is, and maybe inspire some people to speak out against the war, and I was hoping that my performance would help people in some way.” would help change their minds,” she added
