Editor interrupts Russian TV news show

A woman holding an anti-war sign ran onto the set of a Russian evening news program on the state-controlled Channel 1 on Monday evening.

The sign, clearly visible behind the presenter, read “no war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here”.

The woman has been named as Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at the channel.

Russian TV news is tightly controlled by the Kremlin and only reflects the Russian version of events in Ukraine.

Ms Ovsyannikova is believed to be in police custody.

Her voice could be heard during the broadcast saying “no to war! Stop the war!”, before the program director cut early to a recorded news report.

Before the protest, which happened live on the nightly news program, she recorded a video in which she called events in Ukraine a “crime”, and said she was ashamed to work for what she called Kremlin propaganda.

“I’m ashamed that I allowed myself to tell lies from the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed Russians to be turned into zombies,” she explained.

She called on the Russian people to protest against the war, saying that only they could “stop the madness”.

From the moment  Ovsyannikova’s identity became known, she has received dozens of comments on her Facebook page in Ukrainian, Russian and English, thanking her for her actions.