Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who held up an anti-war sign on state television, told CNN that it was “impossible to stay silent” as her country invaded Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova was detained shortly after her act of protest on Monday. The following day, a Russian court found her guilty of organizing an “unauthorized public event.” She was fined the equivalent of $280.
The news editor said she wanted to make clear to the world that many Russians oppose the conflict. “The majority of Russians are against the war,” she said.
She also expressed a desire to counter the “brainwashing” propaganda flowing from her former employer, state-run Channel One. She said she was “ashamed” for having worked for them.
“I have been feeling a cognitive dissonance, more and more, between my beliefs and what we say on air,” she said. “The war was the point of no return, when it was simply impossible to stay silent.”
“I worry about Russian soldiers,” Ovsyannikova continued. “I think they really don’t understand why they have to do this, why they [are] fighting.”
CNN adds:
Ovsyannikova told CNN that she initially planned to stand back from the cameras during her protest, but then realized she would need to be close to the news anchor to ensure that her poster was seen by viewers. She was “afraid until the last minute,” she added.”
I decided that I would be able to overcome the guard who stands in front of the studio, and stand behind the host. So I moved very quickly and I passed by the security and showed my poster,” said Ovsyannikova.
In a video Ovsyannikova recorded before her viral protest, she accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes:
“What is happening now in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor country, and the responsibility for this aggression lies on the conscience of only one person. This man is Vladimir Putin,” Ovsyannikova said.
“Unfortunately, for the past few years, I have been working on Channel One and doing Kremlin propaganda, and now I am very ashamed of it,” she said in the video. “It’s a shame that I allowed to speak lies from the TV screens, ashamed that I allowed to zombify Russian people.”
