Anti war protester in studio interrupts live Russian state TV news

An anti-war protester in the studio. Image Credit

Live Russian state TV news in the studio is disrupted by an Anti-War protester.

On Monday, an anti-war protester held a sign behind the studio presenter and shouted slogans against the conflict in Ukraine during live news broadcast on Russia's official television Channel One.

The banner said in both English and Russian: "NO WAR. Stop the war. Don't believe the propaganda.  They're deceiving you here."  Another phrase, which looked like "Russians against war", was partly obscured.

The unprecedented act of defiance occurred on day 19 of the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in a "special military operation" on February 24.

"Put an end to the war. No to military action, "As the news anchor read from her teleprompter, the woman protester could be heard shouting.

For a few seconds, the protester could be seen and heard before the channel turned to a different report and took her off the screen.

On Twitter, Kira Yarmysh, a spokeswoman for imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said, "Wow, that chick is cool."

She recorded the incident and shared it on social media, where it soon racked up over 2.6 million views.

For many millions of Russians, state television is their primary source of news, and it closely follows the Kremlin line that Russia was forced to intervene in Ukraine to demilitarize and "denazify" the country, as well as to protect Russian-speakers from "genocide." Ukraine, along with the rest of the world, has denounced this as a justification for invading a democratic country.

Marina Ovsyannikova, a channel employee, was identified by OVD-Info, an independent protest-monitoring organization, and the head of the Agora human rights organization.

Agora's head, Pavel Chikov, confirmed that she had been detained and transferred to a Moscow police station. According to Tass, she could face charges under a law prohibiting insulting the military, citing a law enforcement source.

The law, which was passed on March 4, makes public activities intended at discrediting Russia's army illegal and bans the spread of fake news or the "public publication of intentionally incorrect information concerning the usage of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces." The crime carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

A lady who appeared to be Ovsyannikova characterized herself as a Channel One employee in a video broadcast online before the incident, saying she was humiliated to have worked for years propagating Kremlin propaganda. Her father was Ukrainian, and her mother was Russian, she stated.

"What is going on in Ukraine right now is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor. Only one individual bears responsibility for the aggression, and that man is Vladimir Putin "she stated

"Now the entire world has turned away from us, and the humiliation of this fratricidal conflict will not be washed away by the next ten generations of our descendants," she remarked.

She urged Russians to take to the streets and protest.

Authorities have dispersed anti-war demonstrations. A total of 14,911 people have been arrested, according to OVD-Info, which monitors protests and provides legal support to those imprisoned.

Source: Mark Trevelyan in London and Conor Humphries in Dublin contributed reporting, while Grant McCool edited the article. Toisthe is not the original publisher.