Marina Ovsianikova .. the Russian who opposed the war in Ukraine on air

A mother of two loves pets and loves swimming, and she was not known to talk about politics, but the scenes of the Ukrainian war and the injustice suffered by the little neighbor prompted her to protest publicly in front of millions, and risk everything she owned.

It is the Russian journalist, Marina Ovsianikova, who became the talk of the hour after she cut off the television broadcast of the First Channel in which she works, to announce to everyone her rejection of the war.

The journalist disappeared for more than 15 hours, during which her friends and lawyers did not find any trace of her, but they confirmed that the police took her immediately after the incident to the police station.

The lawyer, Anastasia Kostanov, told the Russian BBC that she had called her several times and she did not answer, "and this means that they are deliberately hiding her and depriving her of legal assistance, and they are preparing for a strict trial."

On Tuesday, the former employee of the channel appeared before a court in Moscow and pleaded not guilty.

"I do not admit guilt," Ovsianikova said, according to "AFP."

Under a law signed by President Vladimir Putin, the journalist is now threatened with imprisonment of up to 15 years against those who publish information about the war that does not conform to the official version.

The 44-year-old journalist received global acclaim after storming the main news program to protest the invasion of Ukraine, holding a banner reading "Stop the war".

Ovsianikova entered the nightly news broadcast on Monday evening, shouting "Stop the war, no war."

She carried a sign saying: "Don't believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here."

On her Facebook profile, more than 150,000 people left comments praising her stance, such as "amazed at your courage" and "thank you so much for showing the truth."

The journalist appears in the main photo on her Facebook account, wearing a necklace that mixed with the colors of the Russian and Ukrainian flags, and it is the same necklace that she wore in a video clip she posted before storming the studio.

In this clip, pointing to the necklace, she says that her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Russian, and "they have never been enemies."

MEA WorldWide says Ovsyanikova graduated from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in 2005.

She began her career in state television with "Kuban TV" and then moved to Channel One several years ago, and it is considered one of the most important channels in Russia with about 250 million views.

The journalist says in the video: "I worked for Channel One for several years and spread the Kremlin's propaganda, I am very ashamed of this now. I am ashamed that I was allowed to lie on TV .. We were silent in 2014 (the annexation of Crimea) .. We did not come out to protest. When the Kremlin poisoned (opposition leader Alexei) Navalny."

She added, "We are only silently observing this anti-human regime. Now the whole world has moved away from us and the next ten generations will not be able to get rid of the shame of this fratricidal war."

"What is happening in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor," she said, and the responsibility for this aggression rests with only one person: "Vladimir Putin."

She called on the Russians to protest the war and said, "Only we have the strength to stop all this madness. Go to protests. Don't be afraid of anything. They can't imprison us all."

This speech received wide attention, and even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to it as saying that he was grateful to the Russians "who do not stop trying to convey the truth and the real facts to their friends and loved ones...and personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with an anti-war poster."

And the independent Russian website "Fair Daily" explains that for years she has been working as an editor in the international department of the media program department of Channel One, and her work had nothing to do with the texts that were broadcast on the air, and her job was only to translate direct speeches of foreign politicians, businessmen, cultural figures and ordinary people into the Russian language.

The site describes her work: "She was a cog in a large news-producing machine for Channel One."

Colleagues said they were surprised by her latest behavior, because they had never heard her talk about politics before.

"Mostly she was talking about the kids, the dogs and the house," says a friend.

And when I needed it, it happened during work, she was at work according to the usual schedule.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country's readiness to provide "consular protection" to Ovsiannikova, noting that he would present this proposal to his Russian counterpart directly in their next conversation.

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