Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian state television Channel One employee, was detained on Monday after interrupting a live news broadcast on Monday with an anti-war message. She appeared in court later, where she was fined 30,000 roubles (£215) for breaking protest laws and could still face other charges. But in a way she has already won a great battle against propaganda in Russia.
With her action, a long silence has been broken. I have heard that at least two important correspondents, one from Channel One and one from NTV – Zhanna Agalakova and Vadim Glusker – have handed in their notice. A source I know at VGTRK, the state media holding company, has said that many others at the main news programme were considering resigning, and the mood among remaining employees was nasty. They said: “If we didn’t have our mortgages, we would quit too.”
