Russian Journalist Faces Jail Term for Anti-Putin Protest 

Ovsyannikova staged a one-woman protest near the Kremlin in mid-July, holding a poster reading "Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists."

FILE - Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Russian state TV journalist who quit after making an on-air protest of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, sits in a court room prior to a hearing in Moscow, July 28, 2022. A former Russian state TV journalist who quit after making an on-air protest of Russia's war in Ukraine was fined 40,000 rubles ($650) Monday, Aug. 8 for discrediting the military. Marina Ovsyannikova was charged under a law that penalizes statements against the military. A conviction is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Russian investigators detained journalist Marina Ovsyannikova on Wednesday after she denounced President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine on live television.

Ovsyannikova staged a one-woman protest near the Kremlin in mid-July, holding a poster reading “Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists.”

According to Zakhvatov, Ovsyannikova has been charged with spreading false information about Russia’s armed forces and will spend the night in pre-trial detention.

On March Ovsyannikova, who was at the time an editor at Channel One television, gained notoriety when she stormed onto the set of the network’s premier Vremya (Time) evening news while carrying a poster that read “No War”.

The criminal investigation against Ovsyannikova was launched after two Moscow courts ordered the journalist to pay fines for repeatedly discrediting the Russian army.

Some members of Russia’s opponents have accused her of jumping ship in an opportunistic move for fame.