Fears for ‘missing’ Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova following on-air anti-war protest

Fears are growing for a missing Russian journalist who is said to have interrupted the main news programme on the country’s most popular TV channel while holding a sign that read: “They are lying to you.”

During the live broadcast on Channel One on Monday evening, Marina Ovsyannikova, who is thought to have worked for the company for years, walked on to the set behind the presenter with a placard condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a move the Kremlin has described as “hooliganism.”

It was a risky protest in a country where independent media outlets have been shut down or blocked, and it has become illegal to challenge the government’s version of the war.

“The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is conducting a pre-investigation check against Ovsyannikova, a TASS source reports.

“The pre-investigation check does not provide grounds for detention and imprisonment.”

What happens now?

Mr Chikov, who is head of the Russian human rights group Agora, said Ms Ovsyannikova had been arrested and taken to a police station in Moscow.

She may face charges under a law against discrediting the armed forces, TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Ms Ovsyannikova in a video address delivered early Tuesday.

What did Ms Ovsyannikova do on air?

During the on-air protest, an English placard read: “There is no war. Russians are opposed to war.” It said in Russian: “THERE IS NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t fall for propaganda. They’re deceiving you here.”

Ms Ovsyannikova could be heard saying while standing behind the host, who continued to read from her script: “Stop the fighting! There is no war! Stop the fighting! There is no war!”

She was still audible after the broadcast was switched to an alternate output.

Ms Ovsyannikova, whose father is Ukrainian and mother is Russian, also released a video of herself before her protest in which she blamed President Vladimir Putin for the war.

She said that “unfortunately” she had been working for Channel One in recent years, working for the “Kremlin’s propaganda and I’m very ashamed of it – that I was letting them tell those lies from the TV screen… and allowed the Russian people to be zombified”.