Episode 2: Escape from Russia
After she called out the Russian war on live TV, Marina Ovsyannikova tried to flee Russia with her 11-year-old daughter. This is the story of her escape.
After she called out the Russian war on live TV, Marina Ovsyannikova tried to flee Russia with her 11-year-old daughter. This is the story of her escape.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00She protested the war in Ukraine live on Russian state television
00:03before fleeing her country and seeking asylum in France to avoid prison time.
00:08This is the story of journalist Marina Ovsanikova.
00:22It's July 15, 2022 in Moscow near the Kremlin.
00:27Marina Ovsanikova is protesting alone.
00:30Three bloody dolls lay next to her to symbolize the massacre of Ukrainian children.
00:46After her stunt on live television,
00:48Ovsanikova leaves Russia and becomes a news correspondent
00:51for the German newspaper Die Welt for several months.
01:00Her husband works at RT, a news channel associated with the Russian state.
01:14After her act of dissidence, he cuts off all communication with her.
01:18Marina Ovsanikova risks losing custody of her almost adult son
01:21and of her daughter who was only 11 at the time.
01:30Putin is a murderer.
01:41His soldiers are fascists.
01:43352 children are dead.
01:45This is what was written on Marina's banner when she stood near the Kremlin.
01:49The journalist is once again arrested and placed in jail.
02:11Marina Ovsanikova is on house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor
02:16as she awaits her trial.
02:17She faces up to 10 years in prison.
02:19Eventually her daughter ends up joining her.
02:22Together, they decide to flee.
02:24launched diplomatic measures to offer protection.
02:27We made sure that this promise would be kept.
02:29We coordinated the operation.
02:31It was so dramatic because they took my daughter away from me.
02:35She was locked up in my husband's apartment.
02:38I was not allowed to talk to her, to see her.
02:41My lawyer told me to run, but I couldn't run without my daughter.
02:45Eventually, her daughter ends up joining her.
02:48Together, they decide to flee.
02:50But in order to do so, they have to fool the authorities
02:53and their own family.
03:23We used seven cars, changing them throughout Russia,
03:27constantly tracking them down.
03:28There was a real chain of solidarity.
03:31Some people took risks,
03:34showed incredible courage,
03:37and will never be discreet.
03:39It didn't go according to plan.
03:40Our last car got stuck in the mud,
03:42just a few kilometers from the border.
03:44Marina had to get out of the car with her daughter,
03:48with suitcases.
03:49She was advised to leave with a backpack,
03:51but she had wheelchair suitcases.
03:53We jumped into the open field.
03:54It was pitch black around us.
03:57We hid from the headlights of the tractors
04:00and the border guards' cars that were driving at that moment.
04:05From this office, at Reporters Without Borders,
04:08we followed all the steps of this exfiltration.
04:11We were wondering if it was going to work.
04:14Cell phone calls, he was shouting,
04:16when these cars were approaching the border guards,
04:18he was shouting, put your head down.
04:20We were just lying on our backs,
04:22hiding in black jackets,
04:23so that we wouldn't be seen on the barren, black soil.
04:26There was no telephone network,
04:29so they zigzagged on unknown grounds.
04:35Marina Ovsanikova and her daughter
04:36finally reached the border and escaped Russia.
04:40They have since taken refuge in France in a secret location.
04:43Since Putin took power around 2000,
04:46nearly 40 journalists have been killed in Russia.
04:49Forty.
04:49When you see the number of Russian oligarchs
04:51or opponents who have fallen through the windows,
04:53who have been miserable,
04:54of course, it makes me worry.
04:56Marina also says that her friends always make fun of her.
05:00Do you prefer the Novichok, the Polonium,
05:03or a car accident?
05:04What, without having a little anxiety?
05:10I am 100% sure that I would do it again,
05:14because in these conditions you couldn't be silent.
05:17In these conditions, silence was simply a crime.