MOSCOW’S MOST WANTED

Russian Journalist Escapes House Arrest After Protesting War on State TV

Marina Ovsyannikova was placed on a Russian fugitive list after her ex-husband reported she’d taken their 11-year-old daughter and vanished.

Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV news producer who staged an on-air protest against the war in Ukraine in March, has escaped house arrest and disappeared with her 11-year-old daughter, Russia’s Interior Ministry said Monday. Ovsyannikova, 44, was placed on Russia’s federal fugitive list, though it remains unclear how she fled or if she has left the country. In March, the then-senior editor for Channel One made headlines by charging into a studio to denounce the conflict as an anchor read out a live news bulletin. Ovsyannikova shouted, “No to war!” and held up a poster condemning the invasion. Fined twice for the offense, Ovsyannikova was placed under two months’ house arrest in August. At the time of her escape, she was awaiting trial on charges of spreading fake news about the military, for which she faces a potential 10-year prison sentence. Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband, an employee at another state media outlet with whom she has been involved in a custody dispute, first reported her disappearance to Moscow authorities, according to Russian media.