Moscow The viewers of the main Russian evening news program “Vremya” (“Time”) had this performance at the state “1. Kanal” – the counterpart to the German “Tagesschau” – was not expected: just at the moment when the long-time Kremlin propagandist Ekaterina Andreyeva was explaining how the Russian government was reacting to the western sanctions, an editor appeared behind her with an anti-war poster.
Among other things, she had written on it in English and Russian: “Stop the war”, “Don’t believe the propaganda. You are being lied to here” and “The Russians are against the war”. She kept shouting “No to the war, stop the war” before the director hastily switched on the next news clip.
The woman’s name is Marina Ovsyannikova. Her appearance is important, because suddenly she made a large number of people aware that there is resistance to the Ukraine war even within the Kremlin’s propaganda organs. However, it should now be clear to most that the Russian judiciary reacts quickly in such cases.
Because the woman is already in court today, Tuesday. The prominent Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov published a photo of Marina Ovsyannikova with her lawyer Anton Gashinsky in a courthouse in a Telegram channel. Before that there had been no sign of her for hours.
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Russian media reported that the TV worker was being prosecuted for organizing an unauthorized public event. You are threatened with an arrest sentence of ten days or a fine of 30,000 rubles (226 euros) or up to 50 hours of community service. At first it was feared that the editor could be convicted under a controversial new law for defaming the Russian army. There is a risk of up to 15 years imprisonment.
Talking about a war is forbidden in the Russian state media. The state leadership calls the action in the neighboring country a “special military operation” to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.
The reason for the protest
Even before her appearance, the 44-year-old justified her act in a video. She is the daughter of a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother, and there was never any hostility in her family, she said. What is currently happening in Ukraine is a crime for which Russia’s President Vladimir Putin alone is to blame. Russia must end this war as soon as possible, she demanded.
Ovsyannikova also practiced self-criticism. For years she had the “1. Kanal” supported the Kremlin’s propaganda policy, helped to brainwash the people of Russia. Like her colleagues, she remained silent in 2014 “when it all began” and later when the opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned. “I’m very embarrassed,” she admitted. A bold step.
A fight has already broken out over the authority to interpret the protest action: Duma deputy Oleg Matvejtschew tried to dismiss the blatant criticism as a performance by “a crazy fanatic who has heard too much enemy propaganda”. Other pro-Kremlin voices referred to her Odessa origins and her Ukrainian maiden name Tkachuk in order to discredit Ovzyannikova as a traitor.
Ironically, the radical writer Zakhar Prilepin, supporter of Russian imperialism and volunteer for the pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass, recognized the danger that the TV appearance entailed for the rulers. There is a risk of a split: “In our television, about half of the working staff are fans of Nevzorov’s outpourings, loyal listeners to Venediktov and avid readers of the book The Day of the Oprichnik,” he growled.
Alexei Venediktov is editor-in-chief of the recently shut down liberal broadcaster “Echo Moscow”, Alexander Nezorov one of the fiercest publicists there and Vladimir Sorokin’s “The Day of the Oprichnik” is an anti-utopia about an isolated, dictatorial and bestially governed Russia which, given the current developments gaining frightening topicality.
Owsyannikova’s action was received all the more euphorically by the liberal class in Russia. Many journalists regard her as an encourager, showing that the unity conjured up by the Kremlin is fiction. Even within the Russian elite, there is strong resistance to the war on Ukraine decided by Putin’s closest circle.
Employee of the Russian state television protests live against the war
The losses for a large number of officials, managers and business people are enormous. For fear of repression, however, hardly anyone has spoken out so far. But the wall is crumbling – and Ovsyannikova’s step is likely to reinforce this tendency.
Well-known newsreader Lilija Gildeeva resigned from the NTW channel, which belongs to the Gazprom empire, on Monday and left Russia immediately afterwards. The head of the world chess federation Arkady Dvorkovich, once deputy prime minister and close confidant of ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, cautiously called for a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
However, it is still questionable whether the increasingly obvious split will persuade Putin to give in. It is quite possible that the Russian leadership will continue to intensify its repressive course inward over the next few weeks so as not to lose control of the situation.
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