In the midst of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, while information is more muzzled than ever in the country of Vladimir Putin, Marina Ovsiannikova’s gesture has gone around the world. Monday, during the equivalent of our evening news on the powerful Russian television channel Pervy Kanal (“first channel”), Ekaterina Andreïeva presents the information – controlled by the Kremlin. As she speaks, Marina Ovsiannikova, an employee of the station, appears behind his back. She holds up a placard: “No to war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They lie to you here.” Then chants: “Stop the war.” The scene is fleeting, barely five seconds. The presenter remains unmoved; the show’s production launches a report to end the on-set hiatus.
Russian mother and Ukrainian father
Marina Ovsiannikova’s intervention was premeditated. Upstream, she had recorded a video, published Monday evening by OVD-Info, an association which helps opponents of the regime. The 43-year-old journalist, mother of two, explains, with a necklace in the colors of Russia (her mother’s nationality) and Ukraine (her father’s country) around her neck, that “my parents were never enemies. […] What is happening right now in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor. The responsibility for this aggression rests on the conscience of only one person, Vladimir Poutine”. She evokes her “shame” to have allowed the diffusion of Putin’s propaganda on Pervy Kanal, her “shame to have allowed that the Russian people be ‘zombified'”.
At Guardian, a friend of the journalist, whom she had put in her confidence, describes her as “a woman with a big heart”, close to people. “At the same time, like anyone who works for the state, she was very afraid of the system and of losing the life she had built. Until last night.” On Marina Ovsiannikova’s social networks, where photos of her children or dogs rub shoulders, nothing showed such risk-taking. Nor such political commitment.
According to her Facebook profile, which reflects a life of travel and sport – swimming, boxing and running – she was educated at Kuban State University in Krasnodar, not far from the banks of the black Sea. She then entered the Russian Academy of Civil Service and National Economy. She graduated there in 2005. According to a newly created Wikipedia page, she was born in Odessa, in present-day Ukraine. And would have started her professional career on the public television of the city where she studied, Kuban (VGTRK).
“Consular protection” offered by Macron
Since his stroke of brilliance, or despair, it depends, Internet users and political figures have hailed his “extraordinary courage”, in a particularly repressive context. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, even said he was ready to offer him “consular protection”, either at the French embassy in Russia or by granting him asylum.
After her arrest, “two days without sleep” and an interrogation which “lasted 14 hours” without access “to legal assistance”, the journalist was brought before a Moscow court on Tuesday. The latter found him guilty of having committed an “administrative offense” and sentenced him to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (250 euros at the current rate). But this audience was only devoted to judging the video published on the internet where she denounces the invasion in Ukraine. And no to his live action at Pervy Kanal.
For this one, described as “hooliganism” by the Kremlin spokesperson, Marina Ovsiannikova is risking a lot. On March 4, the Russian Parliament approved a law which provides for heavy prison sentences, up to fifteen years, in the event of spreading “false information on the use of the Russian armed forces”. In Russia, the mere use of the word “war”, by the media or individuals, is liable to prosecution. Vladimir Putin speaks of a “special military operation”. Since the start of the invasion, more than 15,000 protesters have been arrested across the country, according to the NGO OVD-info.