When Russian journalist Marina Ovsyanikova stormed the live broadcast denouncing the war in Ukraine, she expected a strong reaction from Russia… but not from countries opposed to Moscow’s policies.
This young woman, who currently lives in exile, is facing growing harassment from critics in Ukraine and the West who accuse her of being a spy and part of the Russian propaganda machine. Three months after the incident, Ovsyanikova is afraid to return to Russia with her son and daughter, 17 and 11, for fear of imprisonment.
“I am at the epicenter of an information war,” Ovsyanikova told AFP in Berlin, where she spoke at the Women’s Forum on Economics and Society, adding: “This is a very difficult situation. will happen after my protest.” Born in Odessa to a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father, Ovsyanikova worked as an editor for Channel One on Russian television until March. She made headlines around the world when she stormed her channel’s evening news with a “No War” sign in English. This was an unusual case in Russia, where the state media is tightly controlled.
freelance reporter
Ovsyanikova was detained and interrogated for 14 hours before being released and sentenced to a fine of 30,000 rubles ($280). But under tough new laws, a journalist could face new prosecutions and possibly be imprisoned for years.
The case attracted international attention and raised concerns about press freedom in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send his troops to invade Ukraine. Immediately after her protest, West called Ovsianikova a hero, and she got a new job as a freelance reporter for the German newspaper Die Welt.
But a spokeswoman for Die Welt told AFP that Ovsyannikova no longer works for the newspaper. According to editorial sources, the agreement “simply did not fit in terms of real cooperation and day-to-day work.” In early June, Ovsyanikova traveled to Ukraine to cover the war as a freelance reporter for the Russian media. “I wanted to show the Russians what is really happening in Bucha… I wanted to explain to the Russians what is really happening in Ukraine and maybe interview (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky,” she said.
“absolute void”
“Russians now live in an absolute vacuum. They don’t have real information, because all independent media in Russia is now blocked, there is only information provided by the Kremlin,” Ovsyanikova continued. But he has been met with hostility by critics who suspect he is still secretly working for Russia.
“Ukrainians don’t believe in her sudden transformation,” Olga Tokaryuk, a Ukrainian journalist with the Center for European Policy Analysis, wrote on Twitter. She called Ovsyanikova’s social media posts about the fronts “manipulative and false.” The Russian journalist spent most of her childhood in Grozny, the capital of self-proclaimed Chechnya. “When I was a child, my house in Grozny was destroyed. So I feel like I understand how Ukrainian women and children feel now,” she said. “It may take several months before Ukrainians begin to understand that there are Russian citizens who oppose the war,” she said.
As for her future, she is looking for a new job, but for now, her return to Russia is out of the question. “My friends jokingly tell me, ‘Do you prefer poison or a car accident?'” she said. “I think that without a sense of humor in my situation, life would be impossible,” she said.
