Russian State-TV Employee Yells ‘No War’ on Live News Broadcast
On Monday in Moscow, an employee of the popular state-owned television station Channel One charged onto its nightly news broadcast to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor for the network, appeared behind anchor Ekaterina Andreeva with a sign that read “NO WAR” in English. She told the audience that the state-controlled media was “lying to you” and called for an end to the war:
A woman burst onto Russia’s main live evening newscast today with a sign that says:
“Stop the war
Don’t believe propaganda
They’re lying to you”
And chanting: “Stop the war! No to war!” pic.twitter.com/pKVKZFVEM3
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 14, 2022 Before her protest, Ovsyannikova recorded a video condemning the invasion, saying that her father is Ukrainian and that she regrets contributing to the pro-war messages broadcast on Channel One. “Unfortunately, I’ve spent many of the last few years working for Channel One, doing Kremlin propaganda, and I’m deeply ashamed by this,” she said, concluding her speech by encouraging others to protest as well: “They can’t arrest us all.”
The protester is an employee of Channel 1, the OVD-Info rights group says. She recorded a video beforehand: “I’m now deeply ashamed … We silently watched this anti-human regime … We are Russian people, thinking and smart ones. Only we have the power to stop all this craziness.” pic.twitter.com/1adrXrUUAt
— Anton Troianovski (@antontroian) March 14, 2022 Ovsyannikova has reportedly been detained by the police, and it’s unclear what her fate may be. Russian authorities have cracked down on both protesters and independent journalists since the invasion. On March 4, Vladimir Putin signed a law criminalizing demonstrations against the war and the broadcast of “fake news” about Ukraine, defined as information that is inconsistent with the official state narrative. Both actions could result in as many as 15 years in prison.
With independent media mostly off-line since the war began, the information from Ukraine broadcast on state-sponsored television has cast the invasion as a limited military operation, avoided images of destruction caused by Russian forces, and downplayed Russian casualties.
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