A Russian television presenter, who staged an on-air protest over her country’s invasion of Ukraine has said she has no plans to flee, despite fears for her safety.
Marina Ovsyannikova held up a sign during a live broadcast on Channel One denouncing the war – a move the Kremlin described as “hooliganism”.
Following a court hearing on Wednesday, she was fined 30,000 roubles (£213) state media reported.
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In her first interview since the incident, Ms Ovsyannikova told Reuters she is scared for her safety and that of her children but she has no plans to leave Russia.
Speaking in Russian, she told the news agency she hopes she will not face criminal charges nor that her protest will be in vain and Russian people will scrutinise war propaganda more carefully.
There were fears Ms Ovsyannikova had gone missing following her stunt after a human rights lawyer said she had not been heard from for several hours.
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However, a photo surfaced on Tuesday of her with her lawyer.
The placard Ms Ovsyannikova held read in English: “No war. Russians against war.”
In Russian, it said: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.”
She could be heard saying “Stop the war!” repeatedly and could still be heard after the broadcast was switched to an alternative output.
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Ms Ovsyannikova, who said her father is Ukrainian and her mother Russian, also released a video of herself before her demonstration, in which she blamed President Vladimir Putin for the war.
She said she was “very ashamed” of her work for Channel One which had “allowed the Russian people to be zombified”.
It is not clear if she will face other, more serious, charges. A new law, passed on 4 March, makes public actions aimed at discrediting Russia’s army illegal. It also bans the spreading of fake news – which is decided by the Kremlin – and carries a jail term of up to 15 years.
Channel One, which is broadcast throughout Russia and has more than 250 million viewers worldwide, said it was conducting an internal review into the incident, TASS reported.
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The channel closely follows the Kremlin line that Moscow was forced to act in Ukraine to demilitarise and “de-Nazify” the country in a “special military operation”.
The UN’s human rights office called on Russian authorities to ensure Ms Ovsyannikova “does not face any reprisals for exercising her right to freedom of expression”.
