Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova held up a “No to war” sign in the middle of the news on the first Russian television channel in 2022. She now lives in exile in France.
A daily life far from his family. Russian dissident journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, who became known following holding up an anti-war sign on the first Russian television channel, shortly following the start of the conflict once morest Ukraine in 2022, confides two years later to the Parisian in an interview published this Sunday March 17. She recounts her life in exile in France.
A gesture “under the influence of emotion”
On March 14, 2022, Marina Ovsiannikova, Russian producer for a television channel and unknown to the general public, held up a sign in the middle of the television news on the country’s first channel. “No to war,” she calls.
His gesture, striking as Russia began to invade Ukraine the previous month, quickly went around the world.
Calling herself “impulsive”, Marina Ovsiannikova now claims to have simply acted “under the influence of emotion”.
A “dangerous” daily life
Since then, the daily life of the Russian, who has become one of the faces of the protest in the country, has been turned upside down.
Indicted for “spreading false information” regarding the army, she was sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison in Russia. But she escaped last October thanks to the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Since then, she has lived in exile in France with her daughter, but her daily life has not returned to normal.
“I try to follow certain rules, but it is dangerous for all the opponents in exile,” she confides.
His son still in Russia
If the journalist assures that her former Russian colleagues “continue to follow (her)” on social networks and therefore continue to follow her daily life, which she is busy in particular launching her own media, she specifies that they never leave a comment . “Because they are afraid,” she believes.
Refugee in France with her daughter, Marina Ovsiannikova was unable to take her entire family with her; her eldest son and his mother are still in the country.
“That’s the most painful thing for me, well beyond my sentence to eight and a half years in prison,” she assures.
In February 2023, Marina Ovsiannikova assured on BFMTV that she did not regret having held up an anti-war sign. However, she confided that she “lost everything to be able to tell the truth”. “I lost part of my family, my son and my mother no longer speak to me, I lost my house, my job,” she said.
