Moment brave anti-war activist storms Russia’s main propaganda news show with sign saying ‘they’re lying to you’
A BRAVE anti-war activist stormed Russia’s main propaganda news show with a sign saying: “They’re lying to you.”
Marina Ovsyannikova’s sign also said “stop the war” and “don’t believe the propaganda” as she chanted: “Stop the war! No to war!”
She is thought to be an editor at Channel One, which was broadcasting the live news programme she stormed this evening.
Marina, whose father is Ukrainian and mother is Russian, was arrested and will be charged with discrediting the Russian armed forces.
She blamed Putin for the war and apologised for her role in state TV during a video she filmed before the protest.
She said: “What’s happening in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor.
“The responsibility for this aggression lies with one man: Vladimir Putin.
“My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they were never enemies. This necklace [shows] Russia must stop this fratricidal war.
“Unfortunately, for the last few years I’ve been working for Channel One.
“I’ve been doing Kremlin propaganda and I’m very ashamed of it – that I let people lie from TV screens and allowed the Russian people to be zombified.
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“We didn’t say anything in 2014 when it only just began. We didn’t protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this inhuman regime.
“Now the whole world has turned away from us, and ten generations of our descendants won’t wash off this fratricidal war.”
She changed her Facebook profile picture yesterday to one including a dove and olive branch icon.
The picture is thought to have been taken at the same time as she recorded the video.
Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a picture of the incident with Ovsyannikova’s sign blurred out due to strict censorship rules.
At least 14,911 anti-war protestors have been arrested by Russian police since the start of the invasion.
Police arrested more than 800 people protesting yesterday alone.
An AFP journalist reporting from a protest in the capital Moscow witnessed at least a dozen arrests and said police were taking away anybody without press papers.
A young woman was shouting “peace to the world” as she was taken away by two policemen, the journalist said.
Some of the riot police had the letter “Z” in the colours of the Russian flag on their helmets, the AFP reporter said.
The letter, seen on Russian tanks and vehicles in Ukraine, has become a symbol of support for Moscow’s invasion.
Putin has also cracked down on the free press by closing independent news outlets.
And state media outlets are forced to call his war in Ukraine a “special military operation”, rather than an invasion.