Marina Vladimirovna Ovsyannikova (Russian:Мари́на Влади́мировна Овся́нникова,Russian pronunciationⓘ;[1][2]néeTkachuk (Ткачу́к);[3] born 19 June 1978)[4][5] is a Russian journalist who was employed on theChannel One Russia television channel.[6] She worked for Russia's main evening newscastVremya on Channel One since the beginning of the 2000s,[7][8] later describing her role as "producing Kremlin propaganda".[9]
In March 2022, she interrupted a broadcast ofVremya toprotest against theRussian invasion of Ukraine, which made international news headlines. She was arrested, held without access to her lawyer, fined 30,000 rubles (280 dollars at the time), and later released. As of early October 2022, she is wanted by the Russian justice system after escaping her pre-trial house arrest; her lawyer says that she fled to Europe.[10] In February 2023, it was revealed she had fled toParis, France with her daughter.[11]
Ovsyannikova was born on 19 June 1978 inOdesa,Ukrainian SSR,Soviet Union.[4][8] Her mother is Russian, and her father is Ukrainian.[12] She lived with her mother inGrozny until the start of theChechen War, but then they moved toKrasnodar.[13] As a child, she practiced swimming and artistic gymnastics.[3] Her swimming team won the university level Krasnodar championship competitions.[3]
In 2003, after moving to Moscow, she was hired byChannel One Russia.[8]Politico wrote: "Since 2003, her job was to watch Western news streams and press conferences, and collect excerpts that made the West look bad and Russia look good".[14]The Telegraph described Ovsyannikova during her time at Channel One as a "state mouthpiece" and "the flesh and blood of theKremlin's propaganda machine". Ovsyannikova retroactively described herself as "having spent many years producing Kremlin propaganda" while working for Channel One.[9]
Shortly after this part, broadcasting switched to a pre-recorded feature on a medical topic[6]
Ovsyannikova initially supported Putin, but images of the war in Ukraine brought back memories of the war she experienced as a child inChechnya. She had planned to protest near theKremlin, but later decided it was not very useful.[15]
On 14 March 2022, during a live broadcast related to theRussian invasion of Ukraine on the evening news programmeVremya, which had millions of viewers, she appeared behind the news anchor,Ekaterina Andreeva, carrying a poster stating in a mix of Russian and English:[16][17]
No War Russian:Остановите войну не верьте пропаганде здесь вам врут,romanized: Ostanovite voynu, ne verte propagande, zdes vam vrut [Stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, here you are being lied to.] Russians against war
Ovsyannikova shouted:
Russian:Остановите войну! Нет войне!,romanized: Ostanovite voynu! Nyet voyne![Stop the war! No war!]
After a few seconds, the broadcast cut away to a recorded segment.[18][16][17] The recording of the news program was not available for download, which is uncommon for this TV channel.[18][19][20] The protest was unusual as the state-operated program does not deviate from the Kremlin line of a "special military operation", and viewers had previously not been told that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a war.[6]
After Ovsyannikova's on-air protest, Russian human rights groupOVD-Info posted a video she had pre-recorded onTelegram.[21] In the video, she stated that she was "ashamed of working for Kremlin propaganda":[16][17][22][23][24][25][26]
What is happening in Ukraine is a crime. Russia is an aggressor country and the responsibility for this aggression rests on the conscience of only one person. That person isVladimir Putin. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they've never been enemies. This necklace I'm wearing[a] is a symbol of that fact that Russia must immediately end thisfratricidal war and our fraternal peoples will still be able to reconcile. Unfortunately, I've spent the last few years working forChannel One, doingKremlin propaganda, and I'm very ashamed of this. Ashamed that I allowed lies to be broadcast from TV screens. Ashamed that I allowed others tozombify Russian people. We were silent in2014 when all this started. We didn't protest when the Kremlinpoisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this inhuman regime at work. And now the whole world has turned its back on us. And the next ten generations won't wash away the stain of this fratricidal war. We Russians are thinking and intelligent people. It's in our power alone to stop all this madness. Go protest. Don't be afraid of anything. They can't lock us all away.[23][26]
Denis Zakharov, an anti-war activist, on the night of 15 March 2022, in front of theOstankino television center. He is waiting for the detained Marina Ovsyannikova to express his words of support and give her a bouquet of flowers.
Clips of Ovsyannikova's protest were widely shared around the world and attracted substantial global media coverage.[27]
Russian opposition politicianLev Shlosberg said, "Five seconds of truth can wash away the dirt of weeks of propaganda." Russian opposition politicianIlya Yashin described Ovsyannikova as a "hero of Russia".[6] The detained Kremlin criticAlexei Navalny lauded Ovsyannikova for her defiance during his final statement in court.[31][32]
The BBC reported that Ovsyannikova's protest had drawn attention to a gradual stream of resignations from Russian state-run TV, with three others emerging within hours.[33]
Kirill Kleimyonov, head of Channel One Russia's news division, accused her of being a "British spy" and said she called the British embassy prior to the onstage protest.[34] TheUK Foreign Office said there was no contact prior to the on-screen protest.[35]
Ovsyannikova was detained and taken toOstankino police station.[17][36] Her lawyer was not able to contact or even locate her for more than 12 hours. The morning after the broadcast, her whereabouts were still unknown.[37] It was reported Ovsyannikova may face up to 15 years in prison underRussia's disinformation laws about the Ukrainian invasion.[38]
Later on 15 March, the Twitter account ofKevin Rothrock, an editor atMeduza, posted a picture showing Ovsyannikova with Anton Gashinsky, a human rights lawyer, in court.[39] For the video posted on Telegram, Ovsyannikova was charged with organizing an unauthorized public event and fined 30,000 rubles ($280, £200 or €255).[21][40] Russian state news agencyTASS reported that Russia'sInvestigative Committee was also investigating Ovsyannikova for the on-air protest on charges of publicly spreading "false information" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[41][21] Under anew law passed on 4 March, she could be prosecuted for calling the invasion of Ukraine a war instead of the government's euphemism "special military operation" and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.[17][21][42]
On 17 March, Ovsyannikova quit her job on Channel One Russia.[43] She stated that she rejected asylum in France, and was to stay in Russia with her children.[44]
It was announced on 11 April 2022, that Ovsyannikova had accepted, with immediate effect, work as a freelance correspondent forAxel Springer SE's German newspaperDie Welt, covering Russia and Ukraine.[45][46][47] Shortly after she moved toBerlin, Germany, leaving her children behind in Russia as her ex-husband did not give her permission to take the children out of the country.[48]
On 25 May 2022, during the annualOslo Freedom Forum inOslo, Norway, Ovsyannikova received theVáclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. This prize is given to honor "those who, with bravery and ingenuity, unmask the lies of dictatorship, and who put forth work that exemplifies tremendous courage and creativity".[49]
Between 27 and 31 May 2022, Ovsyannikova visited Ukraine as a freelance correspondent forDie Welt. The visit caused public uproar, which forcedDie Welt to abort the visit and evacuate Ovsyannikova from the country.[50]
After her contract withDie Welt expired, Ovsyannikova returned to Russia.[51] On 15 July 2022, she made a single-person protest at theSophia Embankment [ru], in front of theKremlin, with a poster reading "Putin is a murderer. His soldiers are fascists. 352 children died. How many more should die for you to stop?" Two days later, she was arrested and later released.[51][52] On 9 August, a criminal case was started against her due to this event where she was charged under Russia's2022 war censorship laws with "discrediting" the military; her home was raided by police and she was detained for questioning. She was later released, after being ordered to spend the night at Moscow police headquarters.[53][54] The next day, she was put under house arrest for two months, until 9 October 2022.[55] However, on 1 October, her husband Igor announced that she had escaped house arrest together with her 11-year-old daughter. Her immediate whereabouts were unknown.[56] On 17 October 2022, Ovsyannikova's lawyer confirmed she had fled Russia "to one of the European countries, where she is now under protection".[10][57] On the same day, Ovsyannikova was restricted of parental rights on her 10 years old daughter and 17 years old son — the court ordered that Ovsyannikova's daughter must live with her father because her mother "is involved in political activity".[58]
On 10 February 2023, Ovsyannikova gave a press conference in Paris, France, where she now resides, and described how she was assisted byReporters Without Borders in fleeing the country.[59][60] She was offered asylum by French presidentEmmanuel Macron after her on-air protest, and was at the time of her escape living in varioussafehouses in France.[61][62] She detailed her journey out of Russia, which involved changing vehicles seven times, removing theelectronic surveillance bracelet from her body, and crossing the border on foot.[59] According to theWall Street Journal, Ovsyannikova has said that she still fears for her life: "Each time I speak with my friends in Russia they ask me, 'What would you prefer,Novichok,polonium or a car crash?' ", referring to methods theFSB has allegedly used to assassinate critics living abroad.[63]
Ovsyannikova was tried in absentia in Russia and on 4 October 2023 was sentenced to 8.5 years jail term for "spreading false information" about the Russian Army.[64] In a declaration, Ovsyannikova called the sentence "politically motivated".[65]
News of Ovsyannikova being hired as a correspondent to cover the Russian invasion of Ukraine forDie Welt led to protests in Berlin by the Ukrainian community and war refugees due to her previous work for Russian media. The protesters demanded that she be fired, butDie Welt refused to do so, saying that she is "on the right side of history".[68][69] This decision sparked discussion in journalistic circles in Germany and other countries.[70]
In Ukraine, despite having been praised by Volodymyr Zelenskyy,[18] Ovsyannikova is largely regarded as a propagandist of Russian official viewpoint and her appearance on TV is ignored or held against her. Ukrainian journalists were unhappy with her being awarded prizes, and her press conference in Kyiv in May 2022 was canceled due to the "uproar".[71]
As of 2022[update], Ovsyannikova lived inNew Moscow (the former southwest sector ofMoscow Oblast appended toMoscow in 2012) with her two children.[26][72][73] In October 2022, she took her young daughter and fled the country. They are now living inParis.[74][75] She is married to Igor Ovsyannikov, a television director forRT.[8][76] The couple were reported by one source in March 2022 as being "recently separated".[73] She has relatives in Ukraine, but she does not have much contact with them.[43]
^Ovsyannikova refers to her parents as well as to her necklace in the colors of theRussian andUkrainian flags to symbolize that Ukrainians and Russians are not enemies and to urge Russia to stop thefratricidal war.
^Информация по делу № 05-1121/2022 [Information on case No. 05-1121/2022] (in Russian). Moscow: Официальный портал судов общей юрисдикции г. Москвы (Official portal of courts of general jurisdiction in Moscow). March 2022. Retrieved2022-03-16.
^Останкинского районного суда по делу об административном правонарушении № 05-1121/2022 - Постановление [Ostankinsky District Court in the case of an administrative offense – Decree](DOC) (in Russian). Moscow, Russia: Официальный портал судов общей юрисдикции г. Москвы (Official portal of courts of general jurisdiction in Moscow. 2022-03-15. File "Дело 05-1121_2022. Постановление о назначении административного наказ... документ - обезличенная копия.doc" (Resolution on the appointment of an administrative penalty).Archived from the original on 2022-03-31. Retrieved2022-03-31.
^abcМарина Овсянникова, сотрудница "Первого канала", в эфире программы "Время" появилась с антивоенным плакатом [Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee of Channel One, appeared on the air of the Vremya program with an anti-war poster]. В мире (In the world).newsru.co.il (in Russian). новости Израиля (Israel News). 2022-03-15 [2022-03-14].Archived from the original on 2022-03-15. Retrieved2022-03-15.То, что сейчас происходит на Украине - это преступление. И Россия - страна-агрессор. И ответственность за это преступление лежит только на совести одного человека. И этот человек - Владимир Путин. Мой отец - украинец, моя мать - русская. И они никогда не были врагами. И это ожерелье на моей шее […] - символ того, что Россия должна немедленно остановить братоубийственную войну и наши братские народы еще смогут примириться. К сожалению, последние годы я работала на Первом канале, занимаясь кремлевской пропагандой, и мне сейчас очень стыдно за это. Стыдно за то, что позволяла говорить ложь с экрана телевизора. Стыдно за то, что позволяла зомбировать русских людей. Мы промолчали в 2014 году, когда все это только начиналось. Мы не вышли на митинги, когда Кремль отравил Навального. Мы просто безмолвно наблюдали за этим античеловеческим режимом. И сейчас от нас отвернулся весь мир. И еще десять поколений наших потомков не отмоются от позора этой братоубийственной войны. Мы, русские люди - думающие и умные. Только в наших силах остановить это безумие. Выходите на митинги, ничего не бойтесь, они не могут пересажать нас всех.
^Nechepurenko, Ivan (2022-08-10)."Russia detains a former state television journalist who protested against the war".The New York Times.Archived from the original on 2022-08-12. Retrieved2022-08-13.Dmitri Zakhvatov, Ms. Ovsyannikova's lawyer, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that his client faces up to 10 years in prison for her protest in July, when she stood on a Moscow embankment opposite the Kremlin with a poster that read, "Putin is a killer. His soldiers are fascists" ... More than 200 people have been charged with criminal offenses after protesting against the war, according to OVD Info, a rights organization that tracks such cases. In July, a court in Moscow sentenced Aleksei Gorinov, an opposition lawmaker, to seven years in prison for denouncing the invasion.
^"Marina Ovsyannikova's extraordinary flight from Moscow with RSF's help".rsf.org. 2023-02-10.Archived from the original on 2023-02-10. Retrieved2023-02-14.At a press conference on 10 February at the headquarters of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Paris, Russian producer Marina Ovsyannikova and RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire described the extraordinary operation whereby she managed to secretly flee Russia with RSF's help four months ago.
No War
