A journalist holding an anti-war sign ran onto the set of a Russian TV news program on the state-controlled Channel 1 on Monday evening.
The sign, clearly visible behind the presenter, read “no war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.”
The woman has been named as Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at the channel.
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
Russian TV news is tightly controlled by the Kremlin and only reflects the Russian version of the invasion of Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova is believed to be in police custody.
Russian TV journalist recorded a video calling the invasion of Ukraine a crime
Her voice could be heard during the broadcast saying “No to war! Stop the war!”, before the program director cut away to a prerecorded news report.
Before the protest, which happened live on the nightly news program, she recorded a video in which she called events in Ukraine a “crime”, and said she was ashamed to work for what she called Kremlin propaganda.
Ovsyannikova also appears to have recorded a video beforehand in which she blames Putin for the war and apologizes for her work on Russian state TV news. pic.twitter.com/VuoqtJWcIY
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 14, 2022
“I’m ashamed that I allowed myself to tell lies from the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed Russians to be turned into zombies,” she explained.
“Regrettably, for a number of years, I worked on Channel One and worked on Kremlin propaganda, I am very ashamed of this right now. Ashamed that I was allowed to tell lies from the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed the zombification of the Russian people. We were silent in 2014 when this was just beginning. We did not go out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned (opposition leader Alexei) Navalny,” the journalist said.
“We are just silently watching this anti-human regime. And now the whole world has turned away from us and the next ten generations won’t be able to clean themselves from the shame of this fratricidal war.”
She called on the Russian people to protest against the war, saying that only they could “stop the madness.”
Zelensky welcomes protest at Russian TV
The protest was welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. In a video address on Monday night he said:
“I’m thankful to those Russians who don’t stop trying to deliver the truth, who are fighting against disinformation and tell real facts to their friends and families, and personally to that woman who went on the studio of Channel One with an anti-war poster.”
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