‘They lie to you’, Russian TV employee protests against war in her own news | War Ukraine

The 10-second video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter alone, shows the woman suddenly appearing behind the back of the TV host with a piece of paper in her hands. The sign reads: ‘Stop the war! Don’t believe in propaganda! They lie to you!’

The text was in Russian and English, signed ‘Russians against the war’. The live broadcast is then interrupted and the news suddenly shows images from a hospital. It is not possible to see what is happening in the studio at that time, but according to Russian state media, the woman has been arrested and the state broadcaster is investigating the incident.

According to the independent Russian civil rights organization OVD info, who assists demonstrators detained during protests in Russia, Marina Ovsyannikova is responsible for the action. She has worked for years as an editor and producer at Channel 1, but has had enough of that now. “Unfortunately, I have been working for Channel 1 for the past few years with Kremlin propaganda. I’m very ashamed,” she says in a pre-recorded video.

She wore a necklace in the Russian and Ukrainian colors and said that her mother is Russian and her father is Ukrainian. “What is happening in Ukraine now is a crime and Russia is the aggressor. Responsibility for this aggression rests with one man: Vladimir Putin. We just watched this inhumane regime in silence. Now the whole world has turned away from us.” She calls on all residents of Russia to demonstrate against the invasion. “They can’t lock us all up.”

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Russia experts praise the woman’s “extraordinary courage” because it is strictly forbidden in Russia to demonstrate against the war. The woman risks a prison sentence of up to 15 years because of her action. That is the result of a new law, which prohibits reporting other than what the Kremlin prescribes. For example, it is forbidden to talk about an ‘invasion’ or a ‘war’ in Ukraine.

“Extremely astonishing,” writes BBCcorrespondent Steve Rosenberg on the woman’s ‘brave’ action. “This is very brave”, adds Manveen Rana van The Times to that. British politician David Lammy says the “unshakably brave protesters in Russia who are challenging Putin’s barbaric war deserve our full admiration and respect”.

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Protesting against the war has been virtually banned in Russia and the authorities in Moscow have called for their support of President Putin. The Russian Interior Ministry has repeatedly warned that illegal protests will be stopped and that the organizers will be held accountable. Thousands of people have been arrested in protests in Russia.

Russian state channel Channel 1 describes the Russian invasion as a special operation to denazify Ukraine, in line with the regime’s commitment to the Kremlin.