Marina Ovsyannikova, who stepped out during the main newscast on Russia's state-run Channel One, calling for an end to the war, became a global celebrity within hours. The world's leading media have called her a hero who was not afraid to express her disagreement with Moscow, and she found the best possible way to do so as more than 10 million people watch the channel during prime time.
Before going on air with an anti-war poster, Ovsyannikova, 44, recorded a video message. “What is happening in Ukraine is a crime. Russia is an aggressor,” she said, adding that her father is Ukrainian and her mother, Russian. “Unfortunately, in recent years, I have been working for Channel One, doing Kremlin propaganda, and I am quite ashamed of this.... Go to rallies against the war and do not be afraid. They cannot put us all in jail,” she said.
The courageous act of Ovsyannikova, a single mother with two children, has further underscored the split among Russian society. Some people think that she is a hero. The day after Ovsyannikova's action, several journalists quit Channel One, saying they did not agree with its policies. But there are many people who criticise what she did. A majority of the Russians continue to support the war in Ukraine, and called Ovsyannikova a “fool” and a “traitor”.
“She worked for Channel One all these years and everything was fine. But then it suddenly became bad? Why does her poster have ‘NO WAR’ written in English first, and only then in Russian? Was she writing this for Washington?" Such questions are common among those who believe that everyone opposed to the war are traitors who receive money from the United States.
Zakhar Prilepin, a famous writer who once tried to fight on the side of pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region, said Ovsyannikova’s act was a symptom of the “liberal disease” on Russian television. “About half of our employees on television are opposition fans who are recruited by top managers, who, if given a free rein, would also run out with such a poster. But the salary is too high, that's why they have to control themselves," said Prilepin.
Ovsyannikova was fined 30,000 rubles ($282) “for organising a public event without approval”. One can only guess why the authorities, who do not hesitate to arrest anti-war protesters, chose such a mild punishment. Given the censorship in Russia, where the war in Ukraine can only be called a “special operation”, many feared that Ovsyannikova could face up to 15 years in prison.
Ovsyannikova is still free and keeps on giving interviews. Perhaps she will soon go abroad, because it may not be safe for her to stay in Russia—the authorities have many ways to ruin her life, even without putting her in jail.
Russia is getting used to the war, and also to new sanctions. More and more Russians are beginning to believe that there are enemies all over the world. And they feel quite sincerely outraged when they hear about new restrictions imposed on their country, as it “tries to liberate Ukraine from Nazism”. They forget that no one in Ukraine asked to be freed from the supposedly flourishing Nazism there. They also forget that the conflict in Donbas started in 2014, if not with the direct participation of Moscow, then definitely with its knowledge. Apparently, many in Russia now feel like representatives of some kind of “empire of good”, bringing love and prosperity to the misguided inhabitants of Ukraine. If you take this point of view, it becomes clear why many consider Ovsyannikova a traitor.
Those who do not accept this perverted logic either sit silently or leave. And this option seems to suit the authorities quite well. They need the voices of supporters of the war to sound loud, trampling common sense on a regular basis. Meanwhile, the fighting in Ukraine, which was expected to end in a matter of days with a Russian victory, is turning into a protracted operation with casualties on both sides.
Meanwhile, many of Russia's neighbours are suddenly faced with a massive influx of Russians who want to sit out the troubling time abroad. In Tbilisi and Yerevan, the capitals of Georgia and Armenia, there are practically no apartments left, as all of them are rented by Russians. Many are going to Turkey—the rich buy houses, while the poor rent them. According to the latest estimates, after the war began, about 2.5 lakh Russians have left, some forever. If the trend continues, the number may soon hit a million. Most of those who have left are educated people who know multiple languages and can think independently.
Despondency reigns among Russian journalists. There are more and more reporters who do not want to cover the news in line with official propaganda. And since it has become dangerous to write about events in any other way, many journalists are trying to change their specialisations. For example, a person who wrote about politics, now prefers culture. But the state seems to demand loyalty in everything, including culture. There are already calls on social media to throw out books of writers with opposing views from libraries, and instead put on the shelves those who write “correctly”, like Prilepin.
Another noticeable trend is the indifference to military operations among a significant part of the population. In the first few days of the war, everyone discussed only Ukraine. But now people are more and more concerned about everyday problems. High inflation and the collapse of the rouble have led to higher prices. Meanwhile, the economy is facing a major crisis and unemployment is on the rise as a large number of foreign companies have stopped working. Many grocery stores have empty shelves as people have stocked up on goods such as salt, flour, sugar, pasta, canned food and household chemicals.
No one really knows what to expect next. Will the war end soon? Will sanctions be lifted? How much will a dollar be worth by summer? Is Ovsyannikova a hero or a traitor? So many questions and no answers at all.
