It is a courageous action with probably far-reaching consequences for the initiator: A woman jumps into the picture behind the news anchor on Monday evening during the live broadcast of the main news program “Vremja” of the Russian state broadcaster First Channel.
She is holding a sign that reads “Stop the War. Don’t believe the propaganda. Here you will be lied to” in his hands. To do this, she shouts out loud several times: “No to war!” After a few seconds, the station switches to a video report.
Ovsyannikova sentenced to a fine of 30,000 rubles
Marina Ovsyannikova, who works at the Russian state broadcaster, was arrested after the protest. According to EU information, she was meanwhile considered to have disappeared. “Her lawyers are not allowed to contact her,” said spokesman for EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell on Tuesday.
Later it became known that Ovsyannikova was fined 30,000 rubles (around 250 euros) for a previously published video on Twitter in the afternoon. The prominent Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov had previously published a photo of the editor with her lawyer Anton Gaschinsky in a courthouse. After the conviction, she told journalists that she had no accomplices or helpers.
Because of a new media law in Russia, she faces up to 15 years in prison for defamation of the Russian army and, according to the Kremlin, “false” statements.
But who is the woman who accepts criminal prosecution for a protest action?
Swimmer, dog lover and mother of two
According to her Instagram page, Marina Ovsyannikova has been working for the Russian state television for several years. Previously, she was employed by the regional channel Kuban TV. According to her Facebook page, the 44-year-old studied at the Kuban State University and the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow. In 2005 she graduated from the Presidential Academy. Further information about her career and her job on state television is not known.
According to her Facebook profile, Ovsyannikova has two children, a son and a daughter, aged 17 and 11, and lives with them in Moscow. Her father is Ukrainian, her mother Russian, she says in a Twitter video that she published before her protest. She was born Marina Tkachuk and took the married name Ovsyannikova after a marriage. She was married to a director of the state-controlled TV channel Russia Today.
She wrote about her love for golden retrievers on Facebook and Instagram. A photo shows that she and her family have raised several puppies and put them up for adoption in 2021.
During her studies, Ovsyannikova was a competitive swimmer. This emerges from an interview with “Yuga.ru” from 2002. She later stuck to the sport as an open water swimmer. “Fitness and swimming on the open water. Bosphorus, Volga, Swimstar and Oceanman,” reads her profile description on Instagram.
Ovsyannikova: “War in Ukraine is a crime”
It is not known whether the 44-year-old only had thoughts of protest after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine or before. However, her action was announced in a video message in which Ovsyannikova described the war in Ukraine as a “crime” for which Vladimir Putin alone was to blame. “Unfortunately, in recent years I have worked at Channel One and dealt with Kremlin propaganda. I’m very ashamed of it now,” she says in the video.
She can be seen wearing a chain with the colors of the flags of Russia and Ukraine. Ovsyannikova refers, among other things, to the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The wording of the video distributed on the net in a translation:
“What is happening now in Ukraine is a crime. And Russia is the aggressor. And the responsibility for this aggression lies only on the conscience of one person – and that person is Vladimir Putin. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian – and they were never enemies. This chain around my neck is like a symbol that Russia must stop the fratricidal war immediately and that our brother peoples can still be reconciled.”
In recent years, unfortunately, I have worked at Channel One and dealt with Kremlin propaganda. I am very ashamed of it now. I am ashamed that I let the TV screen lie to me. I am ashamed that I allowed Russians to be turned into zombies.
We were silent in 2014 when this all started. We didn’t come out for demonstrations when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this misanthropic regime. Now the whole world has turned its back on us. And ten more generations of our descendants will not be able to wash away the shame of this fratricidal war.
We, the Russian people, can think and are clever. It’s up to us to stop all this madness. Go demonstrate. fear nothing. You can’t lock us all up.”
