Political dissent in Russia is a dangerous game, with people who speak out against despotic dictator Vladimir Putin risking arrest.
Independent monitoring group OVD-Info said that 874 people were arrested across 37 Russian cities on March 13 alone.
The human rights group reported that as of that date, 14,861 people had been arrested in the country.
Unverified footage of demonstrators clashing with police and being whisked away by armour-clad officers has circulated wildly since Putin’s unprovoked invasion of neighbouring Ukraine began on February 24.
But while most of the 14,000 arrested have been carted off to police custody in relative anonymity, one woman shocked the world when she made a personal protest in one of the most visible ways possible.
Want all the latest news and analysis from Ukraine? Sign up to our World News Bulletin here
What did Marina Ovsyannikova do?
Marina Ovsyannikova, a 44-year-old Russian journalist who has worked for the Channel One news station since 2006, bravely crashed a live broadcast of the main news programme holding up a sign boldly stating “NO WAR”.
Editor Ovsyannikova chanted, “Stop the war. No to war”, as she stood behind presenter Ekaterina Andreeva, who continued reading from the teleprompter.
“Don’t believe the propaganda”, she said, “they’re lying to you here.”
At the bottom of her placard was a sentence in English: “Russians against the war.”
Despite the presenter’s efforts to speak louder and drown out Marina, her protest was both seen and heard for several moments before the channel switched away from the shot.
As well as her live protest, Marina shared her shame for working for Channel One, releasing a prerecorded video via OVD-Info.
She said: “Regrettably, for a number of years, I worked on Channel One and worked on Kremlin propaganda, I am very ashamed of this right now. Ashamed that I was allowed to tell lies from the television screen.
“Ashamed that I allowed the zombification of the Russian people. We were silent in 2014 when this was just beginning. We did not go out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned [Alexei] Navalny.”
Navalny, a Russian politician opposed to Vladimir Putin’s regime, is just one on a long list of enemies of the Kremlin who have had their lives threatened for their dissent.
The leader of the party Russia Of The Future, was poisoned while on a flight in 2020 and left in a coma on a ventilator.
He was poisoned with Novichok, the same nerve agent that was used on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the infamous Salisbury poisonings.
In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB agent who defected to the UK and a prominent opponent of Putin, was poisoned with polonium in a murder some think was carried out at the order of Russian officials.
What happened to Marina Ovsyannikova after the broadcast?
OVD-Info reports that Marina was arrested shortly afterwards and had been held at the Ostankino TV centre.
Reports emerged afterwards that she had been taken to a Moscow police station and could face prison time for spreading “fake news”, a ‘crime’ in Russia that currently holds a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
In a statement, Channel One said: “An incident took place with an extraneous woman in shot. An internal check is being carried out.”
Wearing a necklace with the colours of the Ukrainian flag in her pre-recorded message, Marina said: “We are just silently watching this anti-human regime. And now the whole world has turned away from us and the next 10 generations won’t be able to clean themselves from the shame of this fratricidal war.
“What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor.
“The responsibility of this aggression lies on the shoulders of only one person: Vladimir Putin.”
She added: "My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they were never enemies. This necklace [shows] Russia must stop this fratricidal war."
Reports suggest she could be charged for breaking laws that prevent members of the public from calling into question Russia’s use of its military, and could face consequences for inciting civil unrest for encouraging protest.
Her lawyers have been unable to locate her since she was taken into custody. Her current location remains unknown.
