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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Alahna Kindred

Woman who stormed onto Russian TV with anti-war placard 'goes missing' after protest

The brave woman who stormed a Russian TV news segment with an anti-war message has gone missing, according to reports.

Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee of state-controlled Channel One interrupted newsreader Ekaterina Andreeva last night as she was delivering her evening bulletin.

She jumped into the background with a placard warning viewings not to believe the "propaganda" being broadcast.

Marina was detained last night by police and as of this morning, her lawyers were unable to locate her, according to reports.

Marina is going to be charged with “publicly spreading knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces” and could face a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, the FT's Moscow Bureau chief Max Seddon tweeted this morning.

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Marina was detained last night by police after storming a news segment (Marina Ovsyannikova)

However, her location remains unclear.

Last night, Marina's placard read "stop the war, don't believe propaganda, they're lying to you."

Producers quickly scrambled to cut her off and flip to B-roll for the viewers at home.

Her message was written in Russian and English aimed at the channel's millions of viewers - but producers quickly switched the broadcast to a clip of a hospital as they dealt with the situation.

Follow all today's latest updates on the conflict with our live blog

Russian news broadcast interrupted by antiwar protest (Youtube)

Before she stormed the news segment it appeared she recorded a video beforehand where she apologised for her work on Russian state TV and blamed Vladimir Putin for the war.

In the video, she said: "What's happening in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor. The responsibility for this aggression lies with one man: Vladimir Putin.

"My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they were never enemies. This necklace [shows] Russia must stop this fratricidal war.

Marina has not been located since she was detained (Marina Ovsyannikova)

"Unfortunately, for the last few years, I've been working for Channel One. I've been doing Kremlin propaganda and I'm very ashamed of it – that I let people lie from TV screens and allowed the Russian people to be zombified.

"We didn't say anything in 2014 when it only just began. We didn't protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this inhuman regime.

"Now the whole world has turned away from us, and ten generations of our descendants won't wash off this fratricidal war."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised Marina for her brave actions.

In a video shared on Telegra, Zelensky said: "I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth. To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones."

He then addressed Marina directly and added: "To those who are not afraid to protest.

"As long as your country has not completely closed itself off from the whole world, turning into a very large North Korea, you must fight. You must not lose your chance."

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