Marina Ovsyannikova
Russian journalist – “Protest on TV shattered my family”
TV presenter Marina Ovsyannikova faced several years in prison for her anti-war message on Russian TV. In an interview she spoke about her escape from Russia.
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Marina Ovsyannikova at her hearing in August last year. (archive image)
IMAGO/SNA
She used this for another protest, after which she was placed under house arrest. (archive image)
IMAGO/SNA
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The Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova speaks in a “Spiegel” interview about her escape from Moscow.
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Her own mother and son opposed the 44-year-old.
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It cost her a lot to escape.
The TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who became known for her live protest against the military operation in Ukraine, was under house arrest in Russia. But shortly before their process she fled the country because she could face up to ten years in prison if convicted. In August, she used a court hearing to stage another protest. She appeared in the courtroom a posterwhich read: “Let the murdered children come to you at night in your dreams.”
In the meantime she stayed in Germany, where she worked for the newspaper “Die Welt”. In July, Ovzyannikova returned to Russia, where she continued to criticize Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. In an interview with the AFP news agency, she described this step as “Russian roulette”: “If you make this decision, you will arrest me within a day, it will only take a few seconds,” she said.
Fled in the night
In an interview, she spoke for the first time about her flight from Russia and the preceding protest actions. Now referred to as an enemy of the state in her home country, the Russian TV presenter describes the trip as “exhausting”. Together with their daughter and a helper, they fled during the night. “Many Russians go to their dachas, eat shish kebabs and drink vodka,” she quotes the “Spiegel».
She cut the ankle bracelet with special scissors, then they walked through forests and fields and crossed a green border into a neighboring country, which she did not want to name for safety reasons. Only two days after her escape did the Kremlin start a search for Owsyannikova.
The protest that was her undoing. «Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. Here you are being lied to.”
IMAGO/Italy Photo Press
Although she would have lived a comfortable life in Russia, Ovzyannikova says she could no longer watch Putin’s propaganda machine and bury her head in the sand. Among other things, this cost her the relationship with her own son. He broke off contact with her because he describes her as a traitor to his family and has joined his father, who is loyal to Putin. Her mother also calls her a criminal.
The price she pays for her escape is high, she continues to quote the “Spiegel”. “I lost my family, my son and everything I owned.” Now she is supposed to process her whole story in an autobiography.
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