Russian Anti-war Journalist Describes Her Dramatic Escape To France | Russia News LIVE | News18

Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, famous for staging an on-air protest against Russia's war in Ukraine, appeared at a news conference in Paris on Friday (February 10) where she gave an account of how she escaped pre-trial house arrest and fled to Europe.

Ovsyannikova, who was born in Ukraine, came to international prominence in March 2022 by walking out in front of studio cameras during an evening news broadcast on the flagship Channel One with a placard that read "Stop the war" and "They're lying to you".

Ovsyannikova, 44, was given two months house arrest in August 2022 and faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of spreading fake news about Russia's armed forces.

The case relates to a protest in July when she stood on a river embankment opposite the Kremlin and held up a poster calling President Vladimir Putin a murderer and his soldiers fascists.

The term of her house arrest was due to last until Oct. 9.

She then disappeared and Russian authorities put her on the interior ministry's online list of fugitives from justice.

With the help of NGO Reporters Without Borders, Ovsyannikova gave an account of how she fled using several cars, walking in muddy fields and eventually reaching European territory last October with a Schengen visa.

She was set up in a house in the "French countryside", RSF said.

Ovsyannikova spoke on the day she published an autobiography telling her story.

Since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Putin has cracked down on dissent and the media, with thousands arrested at anti-war protests and a new law that calls for 15-year prison sentences for those who distribute "fake news" about the military.
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