Two ongoing wars, on one side the one between Israel and Hamas, on the other the one between Russia and Ukraine. After connections with our guests in Jerusalem and Beirut, Sky TG24 features the Russian journalist and dissident Marina Ovsjannikova, who became famous for interrupting television broadcasts in Russia by inviting viewers to be wary of propaganda. “Mine was an attempt to denounce Putin, the fact that in Russia, because of him, there are no longer independent media or independent politics.” (LIVE IN GENOA – THE FIRST DAY LIVE)
The media in Russia
“Putin has concentrated on all the levers of power,” Marina Ovsjannikova reported to Sky TG24. “The war was the decision of one man.” The journalist’s gesture was an act of courage: “In Russia there are no independent media. Those were 6 seconds of freedom that by chance ended up live. In Russia, channels receive instructions on what can and cannot be said, which guests can and can’t be had. TV in Russia is under the control of the Kremlin and my saying not to believe the propaganda was an act of desperation in this totalitarian society.”
Putin and society
Russian society is not entirely on Putin’s side. There are many opponents who, however, do not have the opportunity to express their opinion. “When you arrive in Russia – explained the journalist – you enter an information bubble, all opposition media are blocked. Receiving alternative information, even from social media, is impossible. There is an information vacuum and in this context propaganda and repression manage to scare society. Protesting against the war is dangerous, those who do so risk seeing their lives destroyed.” And on the elections he commented: “In Russia there is no opposition force. The opponents are abroad or in prison. One hopes that there are some fractures in the elite surrounding Putin, but they are not visible. There is less and less opposition in Russia. Putin has control of all society. Elections? We will see that 80% will still support Putin since there are no candidates against Putin. There will be ridiculous elections. What can we do? Either boycott them or come to an agreement and vote for a candidate, but it will be a further farce.”
The escape from Russia
“They sentenced me to 8 and a half years,” said Ovsjannikova. “Now I’m in France, we crossed the border illegally. My biggest dream is that there is democracy in Russia, that our children can live in a normal country, in a country that does not kill women and children. However, Putin needs to go and a true democracy is born.”
Source-tg24.sky.it