A new Russian law banning the use of the word war to describe Russia's invasion of Ukraine was broken on Monday by an employee of the state broadcaster, who burst onto the set of a live television news broadcast holding a sign that denounced the attack.
The video of the protest, which lasted about 10 seconds before producers abruptly cut away from the studio to a taped report, was shared on social networks by Russian journalists and opposition activists.
The sign was decorated with the flags of the two countries and had messages in English and Russian. Don't believe the propaganda. They are lying to you.
Wow! A lady walked into a broadcast of Russian state 1channel. She started shouting "Stop the war, no to war". Her poster is saying "They lie to you here". She has then been detained. pic.twitter.com/Ri8TibwuQS
— Olga Ivshina (@oivshina) March 14, 2022
Millions of Russians are likely to have seen the anti-war message.
Marina, a mother of two children, has been arrested, according to the editor of the recently shuttered independent radio station.
A human rights lawyer in Russia, who goes by the name of Pavel Chikov, said that his legal defense foundation plans to defend her against the charge of violating military censorship.
Tass, the Russian state news agency, confirmed that the Ovsyannikova had been arrested and worked at Channel One.
The anti-war message on the sign was blurred by Novaya Gazeta to avoid being charged with the same crime.
? ????? ????????? «?????» ?? ?????? ??????? ????????? ????????? ????????? ??????? ? ????????, ?????????? ???????? ??? ????????? ???????? ???????????? ? ????????? ??????.?? ???????????????? ??????????, ??? ???????? ?????? ???????????.
? ????????? ?????? ??? ?????????. pic.twitter.com/TdpkscVpuS
— ????? ?????? (@novaya_gazeta) March 14, 2022
Maria Pevchikh, an investigative journalist who works with the jailed anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny, was upset by that.
According to Kevin Rothrock of the Russian exile news site Meduza, a video message was recorded before the protest in which the woman said that she was ashamed to work for a government propaganda channel.
Russia is an aggressor country and the situation in Ukraine is a crime. According to a translation by a Ukrainian Canadian journalist, Ovsyannikova said in the video that the responsibility for the aggression is on the conscience of one man, and that man is Putin. She admitted that she allowed the Russian people to be killed and that she helped broadcast lies.
Go to protests was the message that was used in the end of her video. Don't be afraid of anything. They can imprison us all.
Russian state television has largely downplayed or ignored the bombardment of major Ukrainian cities by Russian forces, and cast social media evidence of civilian casualties as unreliable or fake, in line with claims by the Russian government that it is engaged in a limited defensive operation, not a war. The suppression of independent media, the blocking of social networks, and the arrest of protesters for even hint at their opposition to the war has imposed a near-total information blockade on the majority of Russians who rely on television for their news.
Activatica, an online news platform covering grassroots activism across Russia founded by the environmentalist Yevgenia Chirikova, posted a video this weekend showing the extent of the suppression of dissent in Russia. The video showed that a woman in Moscow held up a sign with two words on it.
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