WATCH: News Editor Crashes Russian State TV Broadcast With Anti-War Sign Shouting ‘They’re Lying to You!’
A woman crashed a live news broadcast with an anti-war message on Russian state TV.
A video shared on Twitter Monday purported to show verify disrupt a broadcast by Russia’s Channel One.
Video first shared by a Twitter user named Yaroslav Conway showed network host Yekaterina Andreeva sitting behind the anchor’s desk when a woman stormed the set behind her.
На Первом канале в прямом эфире выбежала женщина с плакатом pic.twitter.com/3EMbhSdIGU
— Ярослав Конвей (@YaroslavConway) March 14, 2022
She held a sign which adorned a Russian flag, and stated “NO WAR.” Most of the sign was in Russian, but a message at the bottom of the sign stated, “RUSSIANS AGAINST WAR.”
She shouted something in Russian, which was translated on Twitter by Julia Ioffe of Puck News.
Per Ioffe, the woman shouted, “No war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they’re lying to you.”
Wow. A woman with a poster that says “No war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they’re lying to you” runs out behind the famous anchor on Channel 1, the Kremlin’s flagship TV channel. https://t.co/X2LwmyuKn2
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 14, 2022
Ioffe referred to Channel One as “the Kremlin’s flagship TV channel.”
As the BBC noted, Channel One is majority owned by Russia’s government. The network is “51% owned by state, 49% by private shareholders.”
It is not clear when the video was taken. Max Seddon, the Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, identified her as Channel One producer Marina Ovsyannikova.
The anti-war protester who crashed the news broadcast is Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One, says @pchikov, whose legal defense foundation is going to defend her against charges of “discrediting the Russian armed forces.” She’s already at the police station. pic.twitter.com/h0uyDmMKdF
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 14, 2022
Seddon reported Ovsyannikova was detained by police for “discrediting the Russian armed forces.”
Prior to her storming the set on her job, Ovsyannikova posted a video, in which she stated her father is Ukrainian, and that she stands against propaganda.
Marina recorded this video before interrupting Channel One’s live broadcast. I translated it for you (thread):
“What is currently happening in Ukraine is a crime. Russia is a country-aggressor.” /1pic.twitter.com/I0Z7b2mjbx
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) March 14, 2022
Julia Davis with the Daily Beast reported this translation of Ovsyannikova’s video:
What is currently happening in Ukraine is a crime. Russia is a country-aggressor… All responsibility for this aggression lies on the conscience of one person: Vladimir Putin. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian. They were never enemies… This necklace around my neck signifies that Russia should immediately stop this fratricidal war and our brotherly nations can make peace with each other… Unfortunately, for the last several years I worked at Channel One, promoting Kremlin propaganda and for that I am very ashamed right now… I am ashamed that I allowed lies to be told from TV screens, that I allowed Russian people to be zombified. We stayed quiet when all of this was just getting started in 2014… We didn’t come out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We continued to quietly watch this inhumane regime… Now the whole world turned away from us. Ten generations of our descendants won’t be able to wash away the shame of this fratricidal war.
Her punishment could be severe. Human Rights Watch reported those who challenge Russia’s narrative on the war face up to 15 years in prison:
Russia has enacted two laws, adopted and brought into force on March 4, that criminalize independent war reporting and protesting the war, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison, Human Rights Watch said today. The laws make it illegal to spread “fake news” about the Russian armed forces, to call for an end to their deployment and to support sanctions against Russian targets.
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