Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, 43, an editor on Russia’s Channel One, who hijacked a state television broadcast to denounce the war has been accused of being a British spy, The Times reports.
She has been charged with unlawful protest after the incident when she carried a placard on air that read: “Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They’re lying to you.”
Kirill Kleimyonov, head of Channel One’s news division, appeared on the news programme today claiming she was a British spy. “Not long before, according to our information, Marina Ovsyannikova spoke with the British embassy,” Kleimyonov claimed. “Who among you has had a telephone conversation with a foreign embassy?”
Ovsyannikova gave her first interview to US media over the weekend, explaining her decision to remain in Russia. She hoped that her protest would resonate with ordinary people. “It’s Putin’s war, not the Russian people’s war,” she told ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
She said she did not accept an offer of asylum from President Macron of France because she is “a patriot” and fears for her two children’s safety.
“I want to say to everyone, the Russian people are really against the war,” Ovsyannikova said, adding that the West’s sanctions were hurting ordinary Russians. Her daughter, 11, had gone hungry after Ovsyannikova’s credit card was blocked.
She added: “The severe sanctions that the West is imposing on all of the people is probably a correct decision, but you must understand that not just the oligarchs and Putin’s closest circle are suffering from these sanctions.”
Ovsyannikova said her protest had been a “spontaneous decision” but added that “dissatisfaction with the current situation has been accumulating for many years”.
She said she hoped to remain in Russia despite losing her job: “I want to live in Russia. My children want to live in Russia. I don’t want to immigrate and lose another ten years of my life to assimilate in some other country.”
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