"This is Putin's war": Russian TV journalist calls for protest - and now fears for her life

Created: 03/20/2022, 19:24

By: Nico Scheck

Marina Ovsyannikova continues to call for protests.

© AFP

The Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova calls on her compatriots to protest against the Ukraine war.

It gives deep insights into Russia's propaganda.

Moscow – It is one of the scenes from last week in the Ukraine conflict*.

Marina Owsyannikova, a Russian TV journalist, held a protest poster against the Ukraine war * in the camera on Monday evening during a live news broadcast in Russia on the Perwy Kanal broadcaster.

It read: "Stop the war.

Don't believe the propaganda.

Here you are being lied to.”

Ovsjannikova's protest action in the Ukraine war had a major impact.

CNN spoke of “shock waves through Russian society”.

Now the Russian TV journalist is making herself heard again.

"This is Putin's war": Russian TV journalist calls for protest against Ukraine war

Because: Owsjannikova has called on her Russian compatriots to position themselves against the war in Ukraine*.

"These are very dark and very difficult times and anyone who has a civic stance and wants that stance to be heard needs to have their voice heard," Ovzyannikova told ABC on Sunday.

"This is very important."

The invasion of Ukraine is not Russia's war, but the war of President Vladimir Putin*.

"The Russian people are really against the war, this is Putin's war, not the war of the Russian people," Ovzyannikova said.

Russia's advance in the Ukraine war is currently faltering.

But there are always Russian attacks on major Ukrainian cities - such as Kyiv* and Mariupol.

"It's up to us to stop this whole madness.

Go demonstrate.

fear nothing.

They can't lock us all up," says Marina Ovsyannikova in the video.

© Twitter/dpa

Ovzyannikova on the Ukraine war: "I could see what was really happening there"

Ovsyannikova hopes that the war in Ukraine will end soon.

With her protest action on Russian television, she wanted to do something with "more impact and that attracts more attention" than street protests against the Ukraine war, against which the Russian police are taking massive action.

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"I could see what was really happening in Ukraine, and what my channel's programs were showing was very different," Ovzyannikova told ABC.

With her “spontaneously” started protest action, she wanted to unmask this “propaganda” by the Russian government and “perhaps encourage people to condemn the war”.

After a protest against the Ukraine war: Russian TV journalist fears for her life

For the mother of two (Owsjannikova has a 17-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter), the protest had consequences in Russia*.

First she was arrested.

Shortly thereafter, she received a fine of 30,000 rubles (about 250 euros).

After the verdict, however, her lawyer announced that the TV journalist still faces criminal proceedings and a long prison sentence.

What's more, Ovsjannikova is currently worried about her life and that of her family.

"I'm the number one enemy here now," she explained in an interview with Der Spiegel.

"My life has changed forever, I'm just beginning to realize that.

I can't go back to my old life."

Ukraine war: leaving the country is not an option - Ovsjannikova wants to stay in Russia

However, the TV journalist does not want to leave Russia.

France had offered the 43-year-old asylum.

But Ovzyannikova is determined: “We will stay in Russia.

I'm a patriot, my son a much bigger one.

We definitely don’t want to leave, we don’t want to emigrate anywhere.”

At the beginning of March, Putin signed a law providing for draconian prison sentences for “false information” about the Russian army.

In addition, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities have massively restricted access to online media and online networks.

(nc with afp)