Ovsjannikova was arrested and fined immediately after her anti-war protest. He is due to report to the German media from Russia and Ukraine.
The German newspaper Die Welt has reported that it has made a spectacular protest on the first channel of Russian television Marina Ovsjannikova has joined the German newspaper. He is due to report to Die Welt and its TV channel from Ukraine and Russia.
Die Welt’s statement defies the limits of Russian censorship laws.
Working in the German media is a challenge for the Kremlin
An employment relationship with the German media does not necessarily protect Ovsyannikova from the harsh punishment of Russian law.
After her protest, Ovsyannikova was immediately taken for lengthy interrogations. He did not get the help of a lawyer, and at first there was no information about his whereabouts.
However, Ovsjannikova was fined only a mild fine of 30,000 rubles. The amount corresponds to about 280 euros.
However, after the verdict, it remained unclear whether Ovsyannikova would still receive a separate charge for making and publishing the video.
Ovsjannikova has stated that she wants to stay in Russia. He has rejected the French president Emmanuel Macronin offer of political asylum.
Since her protest, Ovsjannikova has been interviewed by Western media. In Russia, he was also interviewed by an independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, in an April 4 issue published abroad.
“Putinists in delivery only a couple to three percent”
In it, Ovsyannikova says that her former colleagues on Russian state television are generally liberal-minded people. Only a couple to three percent of employees are “convincing putinists,” he estimates.
Ovsyannikova is not the only journalist to resign from Russian television. Channel Paris correspondent Zhanna Agalova said in an interview with Reuters that he resigned because of the war.
– In recent years, the Russian government has tried to strangle the independent media, Agalova reminded.
– Its employees are brave people that I deeply respect.
“I was on vacation when (…) started”
In an interview with Novaya Gazeta, Ovsyannikova says she was on vacation that week, “when (…) began.”
The article in the magazine refers to war with dots, because in this context Russia is not allowed to use that word.
– When I returned to work on Channel 1, the atmosphere there was unbearable: news broadcasts containing propaganda were running there non-stop, says Ovsjannikova.
– When the work week ended, I realized that I would never return to this job again
He says he did not want to go to the street protests, where he would be immediately arrested. Instead, he got the idea to organize his own protest. Ovjsannikova admits that she feared the consequences, but was in a “truly emotional state.”
He emphasizes that he was only a conscript, and denies any foreign connections.
Place of birth Odessa, childhood in Chechnya
Ovsyannikova’s own background is related to the cities that the war has put in the headlines.
He was born in Odessa, which is now threatened by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. After that, Ovjsannikova lived in Chechnya as a child from 1985 to 1993. He was twelve when the family had to flee the legs of war.
– We left when the shooting started. We escaped when grenades began to explode under our windows, he says in an interview with Novaya Gazeta.
This experience – the destruction of an apartment, the loss of property, and the building of a new life on an empty stomach – has helped Marina Ovjsannikova to understand the situation in Ukraine:
– I understand that Ukrainian children now experience the same thing I experienced as a child, he says.