Marina Ovsyannikova: the Russian journalist being labelled the bravest woman on TV

In an outstanding act of defiance, television editor Marina Ovsyannikova burst onto the set of Channel One during the Vremya news show yesterday – watched by 250 million viewers worldwide – and interrupted famous anchor Ekaterina Andreeva to protest the war in Ukraine.

As one of the most senior staff members at the institution, having worked there for several years in the Directorate of Information Programs, Ovsyannikova was able to bypass armed guards and run behind Andreeva shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.” With a sign that read: “Don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here." As Andreeva, who has hosted the Vremya newscast for more than two decades, continued to read her script.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently passed legislation which prevents the spread of what the Kremlin calls “fake news” about the country’s military. It has lead to multiple Russian independent media outlets being forced to shut down and numerous journalists fleeing the country. The ultimate punishment is up to 15 years in prison.

Understandably, Ovsyannikova is being labelled the bravest woman on TV for her inspirational – and dangerous – stunt. Already her actions have been praised by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on his Monday night address. He said he was “grateful” for Russians who fight to tell the truth, and that he was grateful “to the lady who walked into the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war.”

British MPs are now lobbying for Ovsyannikova to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and 46,000 users who have showered her Facebook page with messages of respect and adoration.

The 43-year-old is a mum of two, whose ex-husband is a Russia Today employee. Before her TV career, Ovsyannikova was a competitive swimmer who crossed the Volga river in Russia and the Bosphorus waterway in Turkey. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Kuban State University and a master’s degree from Russia’s Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Her family upbringing was a key reason behind Ovsyannikova’s courageous act of defiance. "My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they were never enemies,” she says in a pre-recorded video that was uploaded to her Facebook by the OVD-Info human rights group shortly after the broadcast. “What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor. Responsibility for that aggression lies on the conscience of only one person. That person is Vladimir Putin,” she continues while wearing a necklace in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag.

In the past, Channel One might have been viewed as an ideal job for Russian journalists, according to Cynthia Hooper, a Russia expert at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, “now those same positions involve really nothing more than very, very deep complicity in fabricating stories designed to bolster the Putin regime, fuel popular hatred against purported outsider enemies, and convey support for criminal and destructive government policies,” she told The Atlantic earlier this year. “People seem nervous аbout going off script, or even аbout what, exactly, their script is supposed to be,” she continued, further highlighting the bravery of Ovsyannikova’s actions.

“Unfortunately, for the past years, I worked аt Channel One, where I was involved in Kremlin propaganda. I’m extremely embarrassed,” Ovsyannikova continues in the pre-recorded video. “I’m ashamed because I let the TV screen tell me lies. I’m ashаmed because I let the Russians become zombies.”

Ovsyannikova goes on to mention the channel’s collective silence over the 2014 poisoning of the anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, which the Russian opposition figure accused Putin of being behind. “We did not show up for protests,” Ovsyannikova laments, “this was just something we were quietly observing.”

According to OVDInfo, whose lawyers have been helping Marina, she was arrested shortly after her protest and was originally being held at the Ostankino Television Centre. However, Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora human rights group, tweeted this morning that his client has been missing for 12 hours.

“The material (not yet a criminal case) against Marina Ovsyannikova was registered with the Main Investigation Department of the TFR in Moscow, she has not yet been delivered there, - says lawyer Daniil Berman, who is located at the building on Arbat Street.” Tweeted Chikov at 1:20pm March 15.

One of Ovsyannikova’s lawyers, Anastasia Kostanova, told BBC Russia that her client hasn’t been answering her calls either. “This means that they are hiding her from her lawyers and trying to deprive her of legal assistance and, apparently, they are trying to prepare the most stringent prosecution.”

According to reports, Ovsyannikova has now been charged with organising an unauthorised public event — a less serious charge with possible punishment of a fine, community service or up to 10 days in jail — and an image being circulated on Russian media appears to show Ovsyannikova in court alongside lawyer Anton Gashinsky wearing a black blazer and a necklace in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

The worry isn’t over for Ovsyannikova and her family and analysts say it’s likely she could be re-arrested for spreading “fake news.”