Dhe journalist Marina Ovsyannikova became famous with her poster protest on the Russian television news. Now the 44-year-old Russian has reported back – in Paris. She managed to escape with the help of Reporters Without Borders, she reported at the journalists’ organization in Paris. According to the Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, “Operation Evelyne” had already been initiated in September.
The journalist applied for political asylum in France. The French President had offered Ovsiannikova protection in the presidential election campaign in March 2022. He wanted to help her “continue her work as a journalist,” said Macron, who was criticized at the time for his willingness to negotiate with Vladimir Putin. On March 14, 2022, she had the sign “End the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. Here you will be lied to.”
After the six-second performance, she was temporarily arrested and fined. Owsjannikova received an offer from Springer-Verlag to report for Die Welt. She fled to Berlin, but soon came under criticism because her articles revolved around herself and left unmentioned Russian war crimes in Ukraine, as the Polish writer Szczepan Twardoch criticized in the FAZ.
The Ukraine Crisis Media Center (USMC) accused her of not being able to stand up for free journalism credibly, having worked for the Russian state media for years.
In Paris, she continued her self-narrative, describing her escape in seven different cars and how she cut through her electronic ankle bracelet with wire cutters. According to her portrayal, she must fear for her life in France. “My friends in Russia ask me if I’d rather have novichok, polonium or a car crash,” she said. Born in 1978, she came to France with her daughter. Her son refused to follow his mother, her ex-husband continues to work for the Russian propaganda channel RT. She wrote about her experiences in a book entitled “Between Good and Evil. How I finally confronted the Kremlin propaganda”.
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