With Putin clamping down on anti-war protestors, you might think that Russians would keep mum in order to avoid being arrested.
However, an editor at a Russian state broadcaster decided to brave the consequences and make her opinions clear – on live TV.
Interrupted Broadcast With A Protest
Maria Ovsyannikova, an editor at the premier Russian state broadcaster, ran out and interrupted her network’s own live broadcast, shouting her opposition to the invasion of Ukraine and carrying a sign telling viewers that they are being lied to.
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Apparently, a woman just ran onto the stage during a Russian state television news broadcast with a sign that said, “Stop the war! Don’t believe propaganda! They’re lying to you here!” pic.twitter.com/nn5XWsh4Wn
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 14, 2022
“Stop the war! No to war! Stop the war! No to war!” she shouted during her brief interruption of Channel One’s broadcast.
The sign she carried bore the messages, “Don’t believe the propaganda” and “They are lying to you here.”
Arrested for Calling the Invasion a “War”
TASS, a Russian-state news agency, later said that Ovsyannikova was arrested. It previously called her an “outsider” before later calling Ovsyannikova an editor at Channel One, the state TV network.
The agency said that Ovsyannikova could be held liable for her actions under the nation’s criminal code.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ally recently expanded the code to criminalize even calling the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “war.”
Call to Action
In a defiant pre-recorded message, Ovsyannikova said that now was the time for the Russian people to rise up against the conflict.
“It’s up to us to stop this madness. Come out to rallies, don’t be afraid of anything, they can’t jail us all,” she said in a brief video before her protest.
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However, even reporting about Ovsyannikova’s protest was censored, according to the Financial Times’ Max Seddon.
To give you an idea of how sweeping the wartime censorship laws are in Russia: Novaya Gazeta, Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov’s paper, published a picture of Ovsyannikova’s protest that looks like this pic.twitter.com/ydzuVQ19eR
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 14, 2022
In Seddon’s tweet, an image of Russian news reporting was shown to have completely blurred the sign Ovsyannikova had been holding.
Regrets Spreading Russian Propaganda
Ovsyannikova expressed regret for working for the Russian network and for her role in spreading the Kremlin’s propaganda.
“Unfortunately, in recent years I have been working on Channel One, doing Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed of it,” she said in a video recorded before her protest.
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It seems her pent-up frustration led to the outburst during the news broadcast.
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Ovsyannikova blamed Putin directly for the war, calling it a “crime.”
“What is happening now in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is an aggressor country, and only one person is responsible for this aggression. This man is Vladimir Putin,” she said in a brief message.
She is one of the many Russians who have ties in Ukraine, with her father being Ukrainian and her mother being Russian, driving home the very real effect of the conflict.
Stepping Up Arrests of Antiwar Protestors
The Kremlin has stepped up efforts to punish those who protest against the war. Thousands of antiwar protesters have been arrested amid the crackdown.
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CIA Director Bill Burns told lawmakers last week that possibly as many 14,000 people have been jailed for speaking out. Protests have even rocked St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown.
Prominent western news organizations like The New York Times have been forced to temporarily shutter their operations or take efforts to shield the whereabouts of their reporters under threat of a new law that allows 15-year prison sentences for those who call the war “a war”.
Bombing another country and sending military forces to invade them is totally not a war. Yep.
Other Russians are simply fleeing the country with no certainty about when or if they will return.
In this chaos, innocent civilians are truly the ones who suffer the most. It seems there are only two options for Russians: to stay in the country and be subject to Putin’s absurd laws or to leave their homes.
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Featured Image: Screengrab of Twitter (Kevin Rothrock)
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Would you be jailed for being half-naked in public? Well, the answer will shock you. Seriously. Watch this to the end and you'll understand:
