– First of all, I want to emphasize that the Russian people are really against the war. This is Putin’s war, not the war of the Russian people.
This is how the Russian journalist Marina Ovsjannikova, who became world famous when she stormed in during a news broadcast on state-owned Kanal 1, opened the TV interview with ABC News.
During the main broadcast of the news program, Ovsjannikova broke in behind the newscaster with a poster in which she asked for the war to be stopped, and urged the audience not to believe what they heard.
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– Going live on TV with this protest was a spontaneous decision. But the frustration surrounding the situation has built up over many years. The propaganda on the state channels became more and more distorted, she says in the recent interview.
She says that when she talked to friends and colleagues about the war in Ukraine, no one could believe that something so cruel could happen.
– As soon as the war started, I could not eat or sleep. After a week at work where I had covered the situation in Ukraine, it was so uncomfortable at work that I realized that I could not continue, Ovsjannikova continues.
Wanted to expose the propaganda
The Russian journalist goes on to say that she constantly saw what was actually happening in Ukraine, and compared it with what the Russian state channels showed.
– It was very different from what was the reality. The first thing I did then was go and participate in the protests in Moscow. But even then the new law was introduced, and I saw how people were arrested and realized that there was no point in protesting.
She then realized that she had the opportunity to do something more influential.
– I wanted to do something that attracted attention, to show the world that Russians are against this war and tell the Russians that what we show them is propaganda.