'Don't Believe The Propaganda': News Editor On Russian State TV Interrupts Show As Protest Against Putin

'Don't Believe The Propaganda': News Editor On Russian State TV Interrupts Show As Protest Against Putin
An employee of Russia's state-run Channel One television disrupted a news program to protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion into Ukraine, holding a sign saying “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”

During a live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday, Marina Ovsyannikova, a news editor, ran behind the news anchor with a sign, shouting, “Stop the war. No to war.” Her protest was aired for a few seconds before the channel cut the signal and switched to a recorded segment.

Ovsyannikova was subsequently arrested, but in a pre-recorded message published to social media she said, “Regrettably, for a number of years, I worked on Channel One and worked on Kremlin propaganda, I am very ashamed of this right now [...] Ashamed that I allowed the zombification of the Russian people. We were silent in 2014 when this was just beginning. We did not go out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned [opposition leader Alexei] Navalny."

Ovsyannikova added that her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Russian

Russia has historically clamped down on dissent and criticism of the government.  Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia has detained nearly 15,000 people, including children and elderly people, for protesting against the war. More than two dozen media outlets have been blocked, and Facebook and Instagram have also been banned. For most Russians, their main source of news is state-run television.