Russian journalist, who stormed news show with anti-war placard, reportedly missing

Maria Ovsyannikova is reportedly nowhere to be found after more than 12 hours in custody. (Image credit: Screengrab from video tweeted by @Kira_Yarmysh)

In an extraordinary act of defiance, a Russian journalist stormed the sets of her news channel flashing an anti-war placard during the live broadcast of its flagship programme. Now, she has reportedly gone missing.

The news show was interrupted on Monday evening by Maria Ovsyannikova, an editor at state-controlled broadcaster Channel One. She had been briefly detained at the office before being taken to the police station after her stunning breach in which she held a placard that said: “Stop the war. Don't believe the propaganda. Here they are lying to you. Russians against the war". Maria’s father is Ukrainian while her mother is Russian, according to reports.

Human rights group OVD-Info has today claimed that Maria is nowhere to be found after more than 12 hours in custody.

"A pre-investigation check was initiated against Channel One employee Maria Ovsyannikova, who came out with an anti-war poster during the live broadcast of the Vremya program, TASS reports citing its source. Where she is is still unknown,” OVD-Info’s translated tweet reads. The group keeps an eye on detentions at opposition protests.

Her lawyers believe she is being held at a secret location. Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba, attributing to Maria’s lawyers, claimed she can't be found in any police station.

The Kremlin’s crackdown on media intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine over a fortnight ago. A Russian law now criminalises (up to 15 years in jail) calling the military action on Ukraine an “invasion” or “war”. Russian President Vladimir Putin has termed the offensive against Ukraine as a “special military operation”.

Maria, in a video message right before her brave act, slammed the government saying she was “ashamed” of working on Kremlin propaganda at Channel One.

“What is happening in Ukraine now is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor,” she had said in the video in an exemplary show of courage as Moscow continues to trample critical voices of dissent as it wages war against its neighbour.

Her protest on the show ‘Time’, watched by millions of Russians, lasted a few seconds as she was cut off amid “Stop the war, no to war" slogans from her. The anchor who was reading the news also raised her

voice trying to drown out Maria’s chants. The report was abruptly changed to something else after which Maria was removed from the studio.

Watch Maria’s heroic act as well as her pre-protest video message in this Twitter thread:

Diversion during Channel One main state TV evening show tonight - a woman with No to War poster yells stop the war. Channel One already "probing the incident regarding the outsider's presence during live broadcast." pic.twitter.com/wHyV9lyHZe

— Mary Ilyushina (@maryilyushina) March 14, 2022

"I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth. To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones," Zelenskiy said. "And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war."

Thousands of people have applauded Maria’s courageous act and many have shared her videos on Twitter.

Kira Yarmysh, spokeswoman for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, shared the video that has raked in over 8.2 million views. "Wow, that girl is cool", she captioned the video.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 20th day today amid sanctions, protests and talks. Over 14,000 Russian anti-war protesters have been arrested for demonstrations in public places.