Marina Ovsiannikova, Russian journalist: “I’m not part of the scum” – The Interview – FRANCE 24

Published on: 03/17/2022 – 16:12 Marina Ovsiannikova speaks on France 24. The journalist held up an anti-war placard on Russian television on Monday before being arrested, fined and then released by authorities. In response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denunciation of the existence of “scum” and “traitors”, she said that neither she nor those who speak out publicly against the war are “part of the scum”. “. Marina Ovsiannikova began by thanking French President Emmanuel Macron for offering her political asylum in France, but said that as a “patriot” she preferred to stay in her country of Russia. The Russian journalist had to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (about 250 euros) for the video she published explaining her gesture and calling on Russians to demonstrate against the war in Ukraine. Marina Ovsiannikova recalls, however, that “this story does not end with the fine”, since she risks criminal sanctions of up to 15 years in prison for her intervention on television. She explains that her dissatisfaction has increased with the propaganda of the Russian state since the annexation of Crimea, through the Navalny affair, until the current conflict.>> To read, Info or intox: The heroic gesture of Marina Ovsiannikova generates false accounts The journalist explains that she participated in several demonstrations against the war in Moscow but that “these actions could not be effective as they were restrained”. His intervention on television was therefore “a strong message” to show that some are against the war. Marina Ovsiannikova will quit her job at Russian television. According to her, there are other anti-war journalists who are quitting now, but many of them are not doing so because of the economic situation.