Marina Ovsyannikova

Russian television journalist

Marina Ovsyannikova (Russian: Мари́на Овся́нникова) is a Russian TV producer who worked at the Channel One Russia TV channel. She worked for Russia's main evening newscast Vremya since the beginning of the 2000s. In 2022, she interrupted a state-controlled Russian TV news broadcast to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which made international news headlines. She was arrested, held without access to her lawyer and fined. On the afternoon after the protest, she was free to go.

Marina Ovsyannikova
Born19 June 1978 Edit this on Wikidata (age 45)
Odesa Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
  • Kuban State University of Physical Education, Sport and Tourism
  • Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationJournalist, editor Edit this on Wikidata
Employer

Her husband Igor Ovsyannikov, is a director at Russia Today.[1]

She lives in France (as of 2023).[2]

Anti-war protest

On 14 March 2022, during a live broadcast related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the evening news programme Vremya, which had millions of viewers, she showed up behind the news anchor, Ekaterina Andreeva, carrying a poster that said in a mix of Russian and English:[3][4]

No War
Остановите войну, не верьте пропаганде, здесь вам врут.
[Stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, here you are being lied to.]
Russians against war

Ovsyannikova shouted:

Остановите войну! Нет войны![Stop the war! No war!]

Reactions

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Ovsyannikova during one of his broadcasts.[5][6] French president Emmanuel Macron said that Ovsyannikova can get protection at the French embassy or through asylum. Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that her protest was "hooliganism."[7][8][9]

Sources