Russia has put Marina Ovsyannikova, the former state television editor who interrupted a news program to protest the war in Ukraine, on a wanted list after she reportedly escaped house arrest.
Ukrainian-born Ovsyannikova, 44, garnered international attention in March after she burst into a studio at Channel One, her then employer, to denounce the war in Ukraine during a live newscast and carried a placard that read, ” No War” to hold in your hand. At the time, she was fined 30,000 rubles (£460) for avoiding protest laws.
Ovsyannikova continued her anti-war protests and in August was charged with spreading false information about the Russian army for holding a placard reading “Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are,” at a lone demonstration on the Moscow River bank opposite the Kremlin Fascists” upheld. She was then placed under house arrest to await trial and faced up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
On Saturday, Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband said she escaped house arrest along with their young daughter.
“Last night my ex-wife left the place assigned to her by the court and disappeared in an unknown direction with my 11-year-old daughter,” said Igor Ovsyannikov, an employee of the state news agency RT.
Ovsyannikova’s whereabouts are unknown and she did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, she was added to the Interior Ministry’s online refugee list, along with a photo.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has launched an unprecedented crackdown on protesters, independent news outlets and foreign social media networks. In early March, President Vladimir Putin signed a draconian law providing for a prison sentence of up to 15 years for deliberately spreading “false” news about the military, criminalizing any public criticism of the war.
Hundreds of leading Russian independent journalists and activists have fled the country, fearing a wave of government crackdowns. But the war in Ukraine also led to a steady stream of layoffs from Russia’s tightly controlled state television networks.
Last month Zhanna Agalakova, a former Channel One anchor who was the channel’s Paris correspondent at the time of her resignation in March, announced that she would be returning the two state medals she received from Putin for her work at the channel.
“Mr. President, your leadership is leading the country into the abyss,” Agalakova said in a handwritten note posted to her Facebook page. “I find your accolades unacceptable.”