Marina Ovsyannikova is a Russian journalist and former editor in the international news department at Channel One, Russia’s state-controlled television network.
On March 14, 2022, less than a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she stunned audiences worldwide by interrupting Channel One’s flagship evening program Vremya with an on-air protest, holding a sign that read: “No War. Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”
For this act of conscience, Ovsyannikova was arrested and interrogated, fined twice, and charged under Russia’s “disinformation” laws targeting criticism of the military. Placed under house arrest and facing up to 10 years in a penal labor colony, she escaped days before trial—cutting off her electronic monitoring bracelet and fleeing Russia with her daughter with assistance from Reporters Without Borders (RSF). She ultimately reached Paris, where France granted her political asylum following President Emmanuel Macron’s public offer of protection.
In October 2023, a Russian court sentenced her in absentia to eight and a half years in a penal colony and imposed a 10-year internet ban, reportedly over her statements about child casualties in Ukraine drawn from UN statistics which the Kremlin regards as fake news. In October 2025, Russian authorities added her to the country’s “foreign agent” registry.
From exile, Ovsyannikova continues to speak out against Russia’s war on Ukraine, exposing the authoritarian propaganda she once helped produce. She is the author of Russians Against the War: Six Seconds on Air.
