One of Russia's major state television broadcasts was interrupted by a protestor last night, CNN reports.
At 9:31PM Moscow time, a woman rushed the set of the state-run TV broadcaster Channel One during a live broadcast. Standing behind the host, she could be seen holding a sign which read (translated): "No war, stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here."
At the bottom of the sign, an additional line in English read: "Russians against war".
Additionally, as she walked into the shot, the female protestor also shouted "no war" and "stop the war".
Check out the incredible moment unfold below:CNN reports that the woman is an employee of the channel. Independent human rights protest-monitoring group OVD-Info has claimed that her name is Maria Ovsyannikova and that - per her friends - she was taken to Moscow's Ostankino Police Department as a result of her protest.
Russian state news agency TASS has since confirmed OVD-Info’s reporting and added that Ovsyannikova could face prosecution.
Additionally, per NBC News, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed Ovsyannikova's protest as "hooliganism" during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video message praising Ovsyannikova’s efforts, and hailed other Russians willing to spread "real facts".
Per CNN, Zelensky said in a Telegram video message: "I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth. To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones."
"And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war," he added.
As for what pushed the state TV employee to take action against the channel, OVD-Info obtained a video made by her prior to her protest.
In the clip, Ovsyannikova explains that her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Russian, and that she believes "what is happening now in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor country."
She goes on to say that she regrets having worked for the state TV channel for so long, saying: "Unfortunately, for the past few years, I have been working on Channel One and doing Kremlin propaganda, and now I am very ashamed of it. It's a shame that I allowed to speak lies from the TV screens, ashamed that I allowed to zombify Russian people."
"I am ashamed that we kept silent in 2014, when all this was just beginning. We didn’t go to rallies when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny, we just silently watched this anti-human regime and now the world has turned its back on us forever, and another ten generations of our descendants will not be able to wash away from the shame of this fraternal war," she continued.
The video ends with Ovsyannikova calling for her fellow Russians to resist the war. "We are Russian people, thinking and smart, and it is only in our power to stop all this madness. Go to the rallies and do not be afraid! They can't transplant us all!"
Within minutes of her protest, videos began circulating on social media of the interrupted broadcast. However, the live feed of the moment was almost instantly removed.
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