, she managed to get on the set of the live broadcast with a small, rolled-up poster. In now-famous footage, the petite, blonde woman stood behind Vladimir Putin’s favourite TV anchor and for a few seconds held up a sign that read: “No to war. Stop this war. Propaganda lies to you.”
This week, she even travelled to Norway to pick up the prestigious Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.Some in Russia have called into question her credentials as a journalist, highlighting her tacit support of the Kremlin through years of a worsening crackdown on civil society. Many in Ukraine have dismissed her as a turncoat and a Kremlin stooge.
“But it’s Marina Ovsyannikova who gets a job at Die Welt. With all due respect it wasn’t her who risked safety working in Putin’s Russia.”Marina Ovsyannikova - Marina Ovsyannikova via Reuters“I’m a stranger in a stranger’s land,” she said. “I’m at the heart of an information war. If I want to get a taste of the opposition humiliating me, welcome Twitter! If I want to enjoy my former Channel One colleagues bullying me, I go on Facebook.
Ms Ovsyannikova is focusing instead on doing more to help. She is sending the proceeds from her prize to a fund supporting Ukrainian refugees and is assisting dissidents to escape Russia.She has spent the past few weeks in Europe, speaking at public events and meeting policymakers but said she will return to Russia shortly.