Russian TV Protester: It Was “Impossible to Stay Silent”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: You are an ordinary Russian woman who worked for state television. You have two children. What on earth made you do this? How did you decide to do it?

MARINA OVSYANNIKOVA, FORMER EDITOR, CHANNEL ONE (through translator): I decided to do it spontaneously, but the decision was brewing for quite a long time. Lately, I have been feeling a cognitive dissonance more and more between my beliefs and what we say on air. It was a growing sense of dissatisfaction that kept increasing every year. And the war was the point of no return, when it was simply impossible to stay silent, and I realized that I would either need to do something, or we will reach a point of no return, and it will be more and more difficult to do anything.

AMANPOUR: Marina, tell me physically how you were able to do it. I mean, could you just freely walk onto the set? Were you part of the nightly broadcast as a producer? How did you actually physically get access to the anchor set?

OVSYANNIKOVA (through translator): Let’s say that I was afraid until the last minute that I won’t be able to do it, that it won’t have the effect that I was expecting, because the newsroom on Channel One is a huge open space, open plan area. And I was planning to stand back. But then I realized that I would not be visible, and the directors will change the layout very quickly, I will be arrested, and it will — over at once. But, eventually, I watched the scene technically, and thought how to organize it correctly. And right in the last minute, I decided that I would be able to overcome the guard who stands in front of the studio and stand behind the host. So, I moved very quickly, and I passed by the security and showed my poster.