I’m the TV editor who stormed Russia’s top news program to protest Putin’s sick war

A TV editor has stormed Russia’s top news program to protest Putin’s war, calling on others to rise up, insisting: “They can’t imprison us all.” .

Marina Ovsyannikova calls the war in Ukraine criminal and claims Russia is the aggressor in a pre-recorded video.

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She shot back her statement before storming her employer’s flagship Channel One news show with a sign that read: “They’re lying to you.”

Her Facebook profile picture changed yesterday to show her and a dove with an olive branch. It is assumed that she took and posted the photo around the time the clip was shot.

Marina, whose father is Ukrainian, says in the video: “What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor.

“The responsibility for such aggression lies only on one person’s conscience. That person is Vladimir Putin.

“My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they have never been enemies.

“The necklace around my neck is a symbol that Russia must immediately end this fraternal war and that our brotherly peoples are still not reconciled.

“Unfortunately over the years I have worked at Channel One, doing propaganda for the Kremlin.

“And now I’m extremely ashamed of it. Shame that I allowed the media to tell lies on television screens. Shame that I allowed the Russians to bluff.

“We were silent in 2014 when all this was just beginning. We didn’t go out in protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny.

“We simply watched this inhuman regime. And now the whole world has turned its back on us.

“And ten other generations of our descendants will not wash away the shame of this brotherly war.

“We are Russians: thinking and smart. We have only the strength to stop all this madness.

“Go out to defend. Don’t be afraid of anything. They can’t imprison us all.

Marina was arrested following today’s protest and charged with discrediting the Russian military.

Her sign also read “stop the war” and “don’t believe the propaganda” and she chanted in the air: “Stop the war! No war!”

The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a photo of the incident with Ovsyannikova’s sign blurred due to strict censorship rules.

At least 14,911 anti-war protesters have been detained by Russian police since the start of the invasion.

Police arrest more than 800 people protested yesterday alone.

An AFP journalist reported from a rally in the capital Moscow that saw at least a dozen arrests and said police were arresting anyone without press papers.

A young woman was shouting “peace to the world” as she was taken away by two policemen, the journalist said.

Some riot police have a “Z” on their helmets, AFP correspondents say.

The letter, seen on Russian tanks and vehicles in Ukraine, has become a symbol of support for Moscow’s invasion.

Putin has also suppressed the free press by shutting down independent news outlets.

And state media outlets were forced to call his war in Ukraine a “special military operation,” rather than an invasion.

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