'CAN'T JAIL US ALL'
I’m the TV editor who stormed Russia’s top news show to protest Putin’s sick war – it’s time for the people to rise up
A TV editor who stormed Russia’s top news show to protest Putin’s war urged others to rebel, insisting: "They can't jail us all."
Marina Ovsyannikova called the war in Ukraine criminal and said Russia is the aggressor in a pre-recorded video.
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She filmed her statement before storming her employer Channel One’s top news show with a sign reading: “They’re lying to you.”
Her Facebook profile picture changed yesterday showing her and an icon of a dove with an olive branch. It is thought she took and uploaded the photo around the time she recorded the clip.
Marina, whose dad is Ukrainian, said in the video: "What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor.
"Responsibility for that aggression lies on the conscience of only one person. That person is Vladimir Putin.
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"My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they were never enemies.
"The necklace around my neck is a symbol that Russia must immediately stop this brother-killing war and our brother peoples can yet reconcile.
"Unfortunately the past years I have worked at Channel One, working on Kremlin propaganda.
"And I am now deeply ashamed of that. Ashamed that I allowed pronunication of lies on the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed the zombification of the Russian people.
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"We were quiet in 2014 when all of this was just starting. We did not go out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny.
"We simply watched this inhumane regime. And now the entire world has turned away from us.
"And another ten generations of our descendants will not wash themselves clean of the shame of this brother-killing war.
"We are Russian people: thinking, and intelligent. It is only in our strength to stop all of this insanity.
"Come out to protect. Do not fear anything. They cannot jail us all.";
Marina was arrested after today's protest and charged with discrediting Russian troops.
Her sign also said "stop the war" and "don't believe the propaganda" and she chanted on air: "Stop the war! No to war!"
The channel cut to a different report to remove her from the screen after several seconds of her being seen and heard.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Marina in his nightly video address.
He said: "I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth. To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones.
"And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war.";
Kira Yarmysh, spokeswoman for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, wrote on Twitter: "Wow, that girl is cool."
Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a picture of the incident with Ovsyannikova's sign blurred out due to strict censorship rules.
At least 14,911 anti-war protestors have been arrested by Russian police since the start of the invasion.
Police arrested more than 800 people protesting yesterday alone.
An AFP journalist reporting from a protest in the capital Moscow witnessed at least a dozen arrests and said police were taking away anybody without press papers.
A young woman was shouting "peace to the world" as she was taken away by two policemen, the journalist said.
Some of the riot police had the letter "Z" in the colours of the Russian flag on their helmets, the AFP reporter said.
The letter, seen on Russian tanks and vehicles in Ukraine, has become a symbol of support for Moscow's invasion.
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Putin has also cracked down on the free press by closing independent news outlets.
And state media outlets are forced to call his war in Ukraine a "special military operation", rather than an invasion.
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