Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested war live on air, briefly detained in Moscow
- Russian journalist who stormed a live TV broadcast to denounce the war in Ukraine arrested after new protest
- In latest protest, Marina Ovsyannikova stood near the Kremlin in Moscow with sign denouncing Putin as a killer
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Russian police detained journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live TV broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, her lawyer said.
No official statement has been made, but her detention comes a few days after 44-year-old Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.
“Marina has been detained,” her entourage said in a message posted on the journalist’s Telegram account. “There is no information on where she is.”
The message included three photos of her being led by two police officers to a white van, after apparently having been stopped while cycling.
Shortly after, Ovsyannikova posted images of herself and two dogs on her Facebook page.
“Went for a walk with the dogs, just stepped outside the gate, people in uniform approached me,” she wrote. “Now I’m sitting in Krasnoselsky ministry of internal affairs,” referring to a police station in a Moscow district.
Russian TV protester in exile says caught in ‘information war’
Three hours later, Ovsyannikova said she had been released. “I’m home. Everything is okay,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “But now I know it’s always best to bring a suitcase and passport if you go out.”
In March Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One television, barged onto the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news programme, holding a poster reading “No War” in English.
On Friday, Ovsyannikova posted photos of herself on Telegram showing her near the Kremlin and carrying a protest placard raising the deaths of children and denouncing Putin as a “killer”.
The sign said more than 352 children had already been killed in Ukraine, followed by the question: “How many more children have to die before you stop?”
Declarations of this kind expose her to criminal prosecution for publishing “false information” about and “denigrating” the army, offences that can carry heavy prison sentences.
Ovsyannikova became internationally famous overnight in March when she staged her live TV protest. Pictures of her interrupting the broadcast went around the world.
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Russian journalist protests against Ukraine war on live TV - and is detained
She was briefly detained and then released with a fine, but while a number of international observers praised her protest, it was not universally acclaimed by Russia’s opposition.
Some critics said that she had spent years working for a channel, Pervy Kanal, which they said was effectively a mouthpiece for the Kremlin.
In the months following her March protest, Ovsyannikova spent some time abroad, including a brief period working for the German newspaper Die Welt.
In early July, she announced that she was returning to Russia to settle a dispute over the custody of her children.
