Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova’s protest was one of the most conspicuous since the invasion of Ukraine began. During a live broadcast on Russia’s state television Channel One, she appeared with a sign reading “Let’s end the war” in the background. The intervention lasted a few moments, but the images were captured and displayed on the smartphones of thousands of people. Channel One’s official response came a week after Ovsyannikova’s gesture. In a video, director Kirill Kleimyonov accused the journalist of being a British spy: “According to our information, Ovsyannikova spoke to the British embassy shortly before the protest.” The thesis of the foreign director has already been supported by Moscow, as the journalist herself said in an interview with the BBC: “Those who questioned me did not believe that the protest on TV was my idea”.
In the past few days, French President Emmanuel Macron had also offered her political asylum in France, but Ovsyannikova currently prefers to stay in Russia. For the time being, the journalist only had to pay a fine of 250 euro, but for his gesture he risks up to 15 years in prison. In an interview with France 24, Ovsyannikova said that she is currently afraid for her two young children. One of her sons allegedly accused her of putting her family in danger, but the journalist replied: “Sometimes in life you have to make difficult decisions. And above all, we must stop this madness before nuclear war comes ».
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