On March 14, Russian state television’s peak-time news programme, Vremya (Time), was interrupted by Marina Ovsyannikova, carrying a homemade placard denouncing the war and accusing the station of lying to the Russian people. Her protest was only visible for a few seconds, but it has had immense impact both across Russia and internationally and has given Russian opposition to the war a defining image – from within the heart of the establishment.
Ovsyannikova was no student protester. The 43-year-old mother of two was a longstanding television editor at Channel 1, the Kremlin’s propaganda flagship for Russia’s domestic audience. Just before making her protest, Ovsyannikova recorded a statement in which she spoke of her shame, as a half-Ukrainian, at her years at the propagandist channel during which she said she allowed Russian people to be “zombified”. She denounced Vladimir Putin as wholly responsible for the conflict and called on fellow Russians to join the protests against the war.
