Marina Ovsyannikova says she turned down an offer of asylum in France despite the fact that she could face further prosecution.
Russian Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova says she quit her job but refused to accept an offer of asylum in France after publicly speaking out on air against the Kremlin’s narrative of the war in Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova was detained and promptly fined 30,000 rubles ($290) for storming the set of Vremya’s flagship evening news on Monday with signs saying “No to war” and “Here you are being lied to.”
In an interview with France 24, the editor said that she “submitted all the documents” for her departure from Channel One. “This is a legal process,” she said.
Ovsyannikova, who has two small children, said she “broke our family’s life with this gesture” and her son was especially worried.
“But we need to put an end to this fratricidal war so that this madness does not escalate into a nuclear war. I hope when my son grows up, he will understand why I did it,” she said.
She added that some of her colleagues have resigned, but many have not been able to because of economic problems.
“I’m glad that people have filed a notice, but the economic situation is very difficult and it is very difficult for people to stop their work,” she said.
Marina Ovsyannikova holds a sign “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. You are being lied to here.” [Channel One/Reuters]
In a separate interview with the German publication Der Spiegel, Ovsyannikova said she would not accept an offer of asylum put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron and would remain in Russia.
“I don’t want to leave our country. I am a patriot, my son even more so. In no case do we want to leave, we don’t want to go anywhere,” she said.
Although she has been released, she could face further prosecution, risking years in prison under draconian new laws passed on March 4 that restrict freedom of speech about the war in Ukraine.
Press freedom activists outside of Russia accuse state television of painting a highly distorted picture of the war in an attempt to maintain support for what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.”
Ovsyannikova told a German newspaper that most of her colleagues were aware of their role in spreading disinformation.
“They know only too well that they are doing something wrong,” she said.
State television, the main source of news for many Russians, is closely following the Kremlin’s line that Russia was forced to act in Ukraine to demilitarize and “denazify” the country and protect Russian speakers there from “genocide.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed gratitude to “those who fight disinformation and tell the truth.”
“And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war,” Zelensky said.