Wilfried Devillers, edited by Julien Moreau with AFP
An “escape” worthy of “the Berlin Wall”, according to Reporters Without Borders. Journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, who had held up an anti-war sign on Russian state television, lifted a corner of the veil on her flight from her country, this Friday in Paris. “I fear for my life. When I talk to my friends in Russia, they ask me what I prefer: novichok, polonium (deadly substances, editor’s note) or a car accident”, she declared during a press conference at the headquarters of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
“Run, save your life”
It was this NGO which organized her clandestine departure from her country at the beginning of October, when she was under house arrest, with an electronic bracelet. She faced ten years in prison, after being charged in August with “disseminating false information” about the army. “The judgment was to take place on October 9. My lawyer told me: ‘Flee, save your life'”, she recalled. The operation began on the night of Friday to Saturday October 1, when Marina Ovsiannikova and her daughter left Moscow: “There was less risk of them looking for us during the weekend.”
“We used seven vehicles in succession and, before the border, we got stuck in a field,” said the 44-year-old journalist, whose words in Russian were translated by an interpreter. “We walked for hours at night before finding the border, without a mobile network, trying to find our bearings with the stars. I was losing hope,” she continued, visibly tense. She claimed to have forgotten to neutralize her electronic bracelet, in a hurry, and to have cut it with cutting pliers only after the second change of vehicle.
“An escape reminiscent of the most famous crossings of the Berlin Wall”
Necessary “grey areas” “for the safety of those who helped this extraordinary operation”, justified the secretary general of RSF, Christophe Deloire. This “escape, (which) is reminiscent of the most famous crossings of the Berlin Wall”, was “not organized by intelligence services”, he assured. This departure from Russia, the journalist regrets it. “I didn’t want to flee because Russia is still my country, even if war criminals are in power. But I was left with no choice, it was either exile or prison”, concluded Marina Ovsiannikova.
In mid-March, after the outbreak of the offensive in Ukraine, Marina Ovsiannikova interrupted the evening newspaper of the major Russian state channel Pervy Kanal, where she had worked for nearly 20 years. She had waved a sign calling for an end to the fighting and urging Russians “not to believe the propaganda”. She was granted asylum in France where she is living in a secret location.
She had been fined
Arrested, she was fined and then left the country to work for the German media Die Welt. In July, she returned to Russia, where she continued to criticize power, before being arrested and charged. During the press conference, a journalist from Russian independent television Dojd asked her about the mistrust she arouses in Ukraine, and even among independent journalists in her country. “No matter how someone looks at me, I am alone with my conscience,” she replied.