“I fear for my life”, admitted this Friday Marina Ovsiánnikova, the Russian journalist who showed a small banner with a “No to war”, on March 14 of last year, in the middle of the Pervy Kanal newscast, a large state broadcaster . Ovsiánnikova, 44, who has found refuge in France, has explained the odyssey of her flight from Russia with the help of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
“We walked for hours at night before finding the border, without a mobile network, trying to orient ourselves with the stars,” said the journalist, visibly moved. “I lost hope.” In her account, she did not give details about which border it was or other information that could endanger the people who helped her. In the escape, which the reporter made with one of her daughters, seven different vehicles were used to avoid tracking as much as possible and erase clues.
In Ovsiánnikova’s dramatic exposition, a certain macabre irony was not lacking. According to her, when she talks to her friends in Russia, they ask her what kind of death she prefers, if poisoned with plutonium, with some other substance or in a car accident. Everyone fears that the Kremlin will take revenge on her for her provocative action that revealed, a few days after the invasion of Ukraine began, that not all Russians applauded Putin’s decision.
It was fear that led her to leave the country. He threatened her with ten years in prison after being accused of spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces. “Flee, save your life,” his own lawyer advised him
The operation began on Saturday, October 1, taking advantage of the fact that it was the weekend and they believed that there was less police zeal. With her nerves, the journalist forgot to remove her electronic control bracelet. She only ripped it off on the second vehicle change.
According to RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire, Ovsiánnikova’s escape was reminiscent of the famous escapes through the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. Deloire emphasized that the journalist’s safekeeping was not organized by any Western secret service.
After the banner episode, Ovsyannikova left Russia for the first time to work for the German newspaper Die Welt. In July she returned to Moscow, where she continued to oppose the war. She then she was arrested. Fearing the worst, she then decided to run away, never to return. “I preferred to flee from that totalitarian state, reminiscent of the Stalin era, where political repression is practiced using all means, including psychological pressure.
The reporter once again justified her act in March. She wanted to “break the propaganda bubble” that she found herself in. She acknowledged that for years—she had worked for the station for 20 years—she covered her eyes, but she was shocked and forced to do something when Russia and “its criminal regime of hers” invaded Ukraine. Ovsiannikova recalled the experiences she had as a young woman in Chechnya, when Russian troops destroyed her family home.
The fled journalist was in favor of the international community helping Kyiv and argued that a peace based on territorial gains for Russia would not be good because it would give Putin a boost and legitimize his power.
