On Monday evening, a woman carrying an anti-war banner stormed the set of the state-controlled Channel 1 nightly news programme.
The sign held up by the female protester read in English and Russian: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They are lying to you here. “
The woman has been identified as Marina Ovsyannikova, a channel editor.
On the 19th day of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conflict in Ukraine, an act of dissent at Channel One’s studios occurred, amid what human rights organisations have described as a “unprecedented, countrywide crackdown on independent media, anti-war protests, and dissenting voices” in Russia.
The channel moved to a different report after a few seconds to remove the demonstrator from the screen.
In his nightly video address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the woman: “I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth. To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones, “Zelenskyy said. “And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war.”
Channel One was the first station to air in the Russian Federation after the Soviet Union fell apart, and it now boasts a global audience of more than 250 million people.
The TV anchor continued to speak before producers switched to a news broadcast in order to prevent Ovsyannikova from telling the truth about Putin’s war.
‘The responsibility for this aggression lies with one man: Vladimir Putin,’ she said in a video she filmed at home before her heroic stunt.
She might now face a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.Despite claims that she is being held at Moscow’s Ostankino Police Station, her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, told the news source that he is unable to locate his client.
(With inputs from agencies)
