A woman burst into Russia’s most-watched newscast on Monday night with a sign criticizing the military offensive in Ukraine, an extremely rare scene in a country where information is strictly controlled.
The protesters’ rights NGO OVD-Info, which presents the woman as Marina Ovsiannikova, an employee of the Russian TV channel “Pervy Kanal”, reported that she had been arrested and taken to the police station.
Don’t believe the propaganda. You are being lied to here
The scene occurred during the main evening news program of this most powerful television channel in the country, a daily appointment followed by millions of Russians since Soviet times.
As the famous presenter Ekaterina Andreyeva was speaking, Marina Ovsiannikova appeared behind her with a sign that read “No to war. Don’t believe the propaganda. You are being lied to here”, “The Russians are against the war”.
Imperturbable, the presenter continued to speak for a few seconds while the protester chanted “stop the war”, then the channel hastened to broadcast a report on hospitals, ending the live broadcast on the set.
“I worked for Pervy Kanal, doing propaganda for the Kremlin. I’m very ashamed of it”
In a video recorded previously and published by OVD-Info, Marina Ovsiannikova explained that her father being Ukrainian and her mother Russian, she could not see the two countries as enemies.
“Unfortunately, I worked for Pervy Kanal for the past few years, doing propaganda for the Kremlin. I am very ashamed of it today,” she said. “I am ashamed of having allowed lies to be broadcast on television, ashamed of having allowed the Russian people to be ‘zombified’,” she adds.
In their attempt to control all information about the conflict, the authorities have blocked most of the still independent media, as well as the main social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. As a result, most Russians only have access to the version issued by the government and Kremlin-controlled media, including Pervy Kanal, of a “special military operation” aimed at “denazifying” Ukraine and preventing a “genocide”.