Topline
German newspaper Die Welt said on Monday it has hired Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who protested Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine during a television broadcast on state television, who stayed in Russia despite the risk of reprisals.
Ovsyannikova will work for Die Welt after protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine on air.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
In a statement on Monday, Die Welt said Ovsyannikova will serve as a “freelance correspondent” for the paper “reporting from Ukraine and Russia, among other places.”
She will write for the newspaper and be a regular contributor to the WELT brand’s TV news channel, publisher Axel Springer said in a statement.
Ovsyannikova said Welt “stands for what is being so vehemently defended by the courageous people of Ukraine on the ground right now: freedom,” a virtue she said is her duty to defend as a journalist.
Ulf Poschardt, editor-in-chief of WELT Group, said he was “excited” to be working with Ovsyannikova and praised her “courage to confront Russian viewers with an unembellished view of reality… despite the threat of state repression.”
Key Background
In March, Ovsyannikova walked onto the set of Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television during a primetime news broadcast and held a placard reading “No War.” The protest marked an unusual act of defiance in Russia’s otherwise tightly controlled media and a stark departure from the state narrative on the war in Ukraine. The incident drew international attention and Ovsyannikova, who was working as an editor at Channel One at the time, was detained. She was eventually released and fined 30,000 rubles (about $287) by a Moscow court, though this was reportedly for posting a video to social media criticizing the war and not related to her on-air protest, for which she could possibly face more severe reprisals in the future. French president Emmanuel Macron offered Ovsyannikova political asylum in France, but she turned the offer down over a desire to stay in her home country.
Further Reading
Meet The Oligarch Who Whispers In Putin’s Ear (Forbes)
Russian Court Fines TV Employee After On-Air Anti-War Protest (Forbes)
