Everyone has known Marina Ovsyannikova since Monday, even outside of Russia. Ovsyannikova, 44, is a producer at Channel One, a channel controlled by the Kremlin, and she had had enough. She appeared live on Monday evening during the news with a message against the war in Ukraine. She is not alone, but many of her colleagues have rather quietly protested: they have resigned.
She received thanks for her action from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He called on everyone who works for Russian state media to resign. Hours after Marina Ovsyannikova’s protest live on state television, three layoffs came to light. Her colleague at Channel One, Zhanna Agalakova, resigned as Europe correspondent and two journalists from competitor NTV also resigned. Lilia Gildeyeva, who has worked there as a presenter since 2006, and Vadim Glusker, who worked there for almost 30 years.
According to the BBC, there are also rumors about another state broadcaster, VGTRK, where journalists are said to be leaving en masse, but that has not been confirmed. TV host Sergei Brilev already denied suspicions that he was there, pointing out that he was on a business trip for more than a week.
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The former editor-in-chief of RT, Maria Baronova, has also left the channel that follows the Kremlin’s line. She openly opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “I had a great love in my life, Russia, and it is now dead,” she said.
Other journalists at RT, including foreign ones, decided to quit their jobs. Such as London correspondent Shadia Edwards-Dashti. She did so on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, as did her British colleague in Moscow, Jonny Tickle. The French presenter of RT, Frédéric Taddeï, also resigned, “out of loyalty to his country”. A few days later, the EU banned the broadcasting of the state-controlled channel and Sputnik because of their “campaign of disinformation, manipulation of information and distortion of the facts”.
Another colleague of Marina Ovsyannikova is talk show host Ivan Urgant. He has taken vacation but plans to return. On Instagram, he wrote in a black square: “Fear and pain. No war.”
Alla Pugacheva (72) and Maksim Galkin (45) are the most famous celeb couple in Russia. They are also on vacation for a while. “There can be no justification for war! No war!” it sounded on their Instagram.
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