Fate of the Russian producer who protested Ukraine war on-air is unclear

Human rights lawyers say they are unable to locate a Russian TV producer who interrupted a live news broadcast with a sign condemning the war in Ukraine.

TV producer Marina Ovsyannikova interrupted the state-controlled broadcaster Channel One evening news program Monday, chanting “Stop the war!” and condemning government propaganda about the invasion.

OVD-Info, a human rights group that tracks protest activity, confirmed Ms. Ovsyannikova’s role at the station and told The Washington Post that she has been detained.

It’s unclear what happened in the following 12 hours, and James Cleverly, a junior minister in Britain’s Foreign Office, told the BBC he is worried for her safety.

Russian investigators have begun a “pre-investigation check” against the producer, which could lead to charges, according to the state-run Tass news agency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Ms. Ovsyannikova’s actions as “hooliganism,” but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others praised her courage, saying acts of defiance are needed to give Russians an accurate portrayal of the invasion.

Before her protest, Ms. Ovsyannikova recorded a video in which she said her father is Ukrainian.

“Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One during recent years, working on Kremlin propaganda,” she said. “And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens. I am ashamed that I let the Russian people be zombified.”