Russian journalist Marina Ovsiánnikova, who last March interrupted a television news program to protest live against the Russian campaign in Ukraine, has joined the tens of thousands of compatriots who have left their country. In early October, the informant escaped from the house arrest that had been imposed on her and she was declared wanted by the Russian authorities. Her lawyer confirmed on Monday that she is no longer in Russia.
“Ovsiánnikova left Russia with her daughter several hours after leaving the apartment assigned to her as a residence,” lawyer Dimitri Zajvátov explained to the AFP agency. Russian authorities noted her absence on October 3. That day the Ministry of the Interior included her in its list of wanted by the justice alleging that she had escaped from her house arrest.
Both mother and daughter are in Europe, Zajvátov explained, although without giving the name of any specific country. “They are fine, they are waiting to be able to express themselves publicly, but at the moment it is not safe,” he added.
Marina Ovsiánnikova, who worked as a producer for the Vremia news program on the First Channel of Russian television, interrupted the live broadcast on March 14 by launching proclamations and with a poster against the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. “No to the war. Put an end to the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. Here they are lying to you,” she had written on the poster. And it ended in English: “Russians against the war.”
A day later a court found her guilty of organizing an unauthorized protest and fined her 30,000 rubles.
He subsequently briefly left Russia to work for the German outlet Die Welt. However, in July she returned to try to retain custody of her two minor children that her husband, who still lives in Russia, was trying to take from her.
Despite the risks and the law that in March decreed harsh penalties for spreading “fake news” to “discredit” the army, he continued to criticize the Russian offensive against Ukraine.
In July, Ovsyannikova posted photos on Telegram showing her on a bridge holding a sign with the Kremlin in the background. On the banner she had written that Russian President Vladimir “Putin is a murderer, his fascist soldiers. 352 children have died. How many more have to die for you to stop?”
In August, authorities detained her and placed her under house arrest for spreading “false information” about the armed forces. Ovsyannikova left Russia shortly before a trial that could have sentenced her to 10 years in prison, according to her lawyer.
She herself confirmed on October 6 that she had fled in a video she posted on Telegram addressed to Russian prison authorities. Without saying where she was, she showed the telematic anklet that had been put on her to monitor her house arrest. “Put one like this on Putin,” she told them.
“I consider myself totally innocent, and since our state refuses to comply with its own laws, I refuse to comply with the restrictive measure and free myself from it,” he said.
