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War in Ukraine: who is Marina Ovsiannikova, the Russian journalist who faces up to ten years in prison?

2022-08-11T12:26:52.369Z


Exiled to Germany for a few months, the journalist has become a symbol of the fight against Russian propaganda. Returning to Moscow at the end of July, she was arrested on Wednesday.


We discovered his name on March 14.

More than 20 days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin's propaganda left a silence that promised to be unchanging.

Until, in the middle of the television news, a Russian journalist intervenes on the set with a sign and a flash message: “

No to war.

Don't believe the propaganda.

You are being lied to here

”.

To discover

  • Follow information on the war in Ukraine with the Figaro application

With this video of a few seconds, picked up by social networks around the world, Marina Ovsiannikova, 44, has become the voice and the face of a Russia that is breaking the silence by denouncing the invasion of a neighboring country.

Arrested on Wednesday by the Russian authorities, she faces up to 10 years in prison for having "

spread false information about the army

".

"

Zombification

"

However, nothing indicated that this journalist for Pervy Kanal (“

Channel One

”, the main national channel in Russia), would take on the role of whistleblower against her own country.

Of Russian nationality, this mother of two children first graduated from the Academy of National Economy in Moscow, university swimming champion before starting a recognized career in television.

Work that she compares today to a relay of "

Kremlin propaganda

".

I'm really ashamed of it: ashamed of having let lies be told on television screens.

Shame to have allowed the zombification of the Russian people.

Go demonstrate, ”

she hammered in a video posted on social networks.

How did this emblematic figure of Russian television become a symbol of pro-Ukrainian speech?

The answer lies first in his family history.

Because Marina Ovsiannikova is not only Russian, she was above all born in Odessa to a Ukrainian father, who died shortly after birth and was buried in his native land.

Penniless, raised by her mother in Grozny, capital of Chechnya, Marina Ovsiannikova often describes her childhood as unhappy and marked by armed conflict.

A subject on which she had remained discreet until then.

But the invasion of Ukraine upsets this position: the journalist realizes that silence feeds “

this anti-human regime

”.

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: Russian cinema enlisted by propaganda

The day of her televised intervention, knowing that she was threatened by the Russian authorities the second her placard appeared in front of the camera, the journalist anticipated her arrest and recorded a short video, broadcast on Telegram.

She first mentions her parents, “

my father is Ukrainian and my mother is Russian.

They have never been enemies

” before pointing the finger directly at Vladimir Putin: “

Russia is the aggressor.

And the responsibility for this crime rests on the conscience of a single person

”.

The journalist then continues with the interruption of the television news, appearing behind the presenter, imperturbable.

The live is then cut and a pre-recorded report broadcast.

In the aftermath, Marina Ovsiannikova was arrested and fined for “

administrative offence

” pending trial for violating the law on “

spreading false information about the use of Russian armed forces

”.

But this first warning is not enough to bring her back to silence: in a few hours Marina Ovsiannikova has become a symbol throughout the world.

Asked about this, Emmanuel Macron even said he was ready to grant her “

diplomatic protection

” and asylum in France if she wished.

Exiled to Germany

Within the opposition to Russian power, support is sometimes more mixed: some blame him for his years in the service of national television.

Past justified by his entourage as an infernal gear where dissent raises fears of unprecedented repercussions.

As someone who worked for the state, she was extremely afraid of the system and of losing the life she built

,” explained one of her friends to the

Guardian

a few hours after her televised intervention.

Exiled for several months in Germany, where she continued her work for the newspaper

Die Welt

, she made it a daily duty to pursue denunciation.

Witness the evolution of her social networks: from photos of her children at the ice rink to embellished images of Moscow landscapes, the journalist has chosen to devote herself fully to activism.

Signs, testimonials, long interventions in front of the camera... Marina Ovsiannikova continues to publish, enjoying a freedom that questions: how long can she resist before being arrested again?

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: “Many Russian diplomats do not believe their propaganda”

The suspense ended on Wednesday.

In order to join her two children and settle a dispute related to their custody, she was back in Russia.

Since taking a stand against Moscow, Marina Ovsiannikova has indeed deplored that her ex-husband, with whom she had “

good relations

” has, according to her, been under strong pressure.

He immediately sued me.

He demanded that our children live with him

,” she explained in an interview with France Info the morning of her arrest, stressing that it is “

easy to influence a mother by targeting her children

.”

But the intimidation does not stop there: on August 10, in the early morning, the police search her home and place her in a temporary detention center.

In question, a photo taken during the month of July near the Kremlin, a sign in his hands stating "

Putin is an assassin, his soldiers are fascists

".

For having "

spread false information

", the army said on Wednesday that an investigation was opened against him.

For holding up signs, Marina Ovsiannikova faces up to 10 years in prison.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-08-11

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