A Russian TV news staffer launched an audacious lone anti-war protest on live television a little earlier.
The employee, from the Russian state-run Channel One, burst onto the set of the live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday evening, shouting: “Stop the war! No to war!”
The protester, who was identified by Russian media as Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova, was also holding a sign in Russian which can be interpreted as: “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”
Ovsyannikova recorded a separate message beforehand in which she said she was “ashamed to be” a Channel One employee.
“What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor,” said Ovsyannikova, adding that her father was Ukrainian.
It appeared that producers scrambled to cut her off during the live news broadcast.
More on the anti-war protest on live TV news in Russia by Channel 1 employee Marina Ovsyannikova, who burst on screen holding a sign and had also pre-recorded a statement.
That statement also included her saying of the invasion of Ukraine: “The responsibility of this aggression lies on the shoulders of only one person, Vladimir Putin,” she said, referring to the Russian president.
Ovsyannikova’s father is Ukranian. She also urged Russians to attend anti-war protests in the country to demand an end to the war, despite crackdowns on protesters.
“Only we have the power to stop all this craziness…They cannot put us all in prison,” she said.
OVD-Info rights group said that Ovsyannikova had been detained in Moscow shortly after her protest.
Ovsyannikova could face prison time under newly-introduced Russian legislation which criminalised spreading anything deemed ‘fake news’ about the Russian military. Those found guilty under the law could face up to 15 years in jail.
She could also face legal consequences for encouraging “civil unrest” by telling Russians to protest.
Forget Francis Fukuyama--Marina Ovsyannikova’s got BALLS!
