Russian State TV Producer Interrupts Prime Time News With An Anti-War Sign

Earlier today, the prime-time news program Vremya, broadcasted daily on Russia's state channel Channel One Russia, was interrupted by TV producer Marina Ovsyannikova, who ran into the view of the camera behind the anchor with an anti-war poster, shouting, "Stop the war. No to war!" as she condemned the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The broadcast continued for several seconds before cutting off as the anchor tried to drown out Ovsyannikova's shouts.

На Первом канале в прямом эфире выбежала женщина с плакатом pic.twitter.com/3EMbhSdIGU

— Ярослав Конвей (@YaroslavConway) March 14, 2022

[English translation]: "Stop the war! No to war! Stop the war! No to war! stop the war!"
[Sign translation]: "No war! Stop the war. Do not believe the propaganda. They are lying to you here. Russians against war."

Marina Ovsyannikova, who has worked at Channel One Russia for several years, pre-recorded an open message to Russian people in which she called out the propaganda, condemned the war and urged everyone to protest.

Девушка, которая вышла в кадр во время прямого эфира программы «Время» на «Первом канале» с антивоенным плакатом -- сотрудница канала Мария Овсянникова.

После появления в эфире девушку задержали. Сейчас она находится в ОВД «Останкино», об этом сообщают друзья Овсянниковой. pic.twitter.com/15eJTC1zoH

— Ярослав Конвей (@YaroslavConway) March 14, 2022

[English translation of the video in Russian]: Things that are currently happening in Ukraine are a crime, and Russia is the aggressor. Responsibility for this aggression lies solely with one man, Vladimir Putin. My father is Ukrainian and my mother is Russian, and they've never been enemies. This necklace I'm wearing is a call for Russia to immediately stop this fratricidal war and a symbol of hope that our brother nations can still make peace. Unfortunately, for the last several years I've been an employee at Channel One and was involved in the Kremlin's propaganda, and I feel very ashamed right now. I'm ashamed that I let lies be spewed from a TV screen. I'm ashamed of letting the brainwashing of Russian people happen. We stayed silent in 2014 when this was just getting started. We stayed inside when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We silently watched this anti-human regime, and now the entire world has turned away from us. Ten generations later our descendants will still be carrying the shame of this fratricidal war. We the Russian people, thinking people, intelligent people – it's up to us to stop this insanity. Go to protests, don't be afraid of anything, they can't imprison us all.

According to Russian state media TASS, Ovsyannikova has been detained by the police and is currently facing a penalty under article 20.3.3 of Russian administrative law ("Public actions discrediting Russian army"), under which she could face a fine of up to 10,000 rubles ($820 USD), although this could change.

Recordings of the broadcast and Ovsyannikova's message have been widely reposted on social media in the hours following the broadcast, with one of the uploads gaining over 3 million views. Several hours after the broadcast, Ovsyannikova's latest Facebook post, in which she updated her profile picture to a photograph in which she wears a necklace in the colors of Russian and Ukrainian flags, gathered over 50,000 reactions.

Twitter user maxseddon also tweeted the image after it was purportedly edited by the Russian liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta under the wartime censorship laws.

To give you an idea of how sweeping the wartime censorship laws are in Russia: Novaya Gazeta, Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov’s paper, published a picture of Ovsyannikova’s protest that looks like this pic.twitter.com/ydzuVQ19eR

— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 14, 2022