Russian journalist who criticised Ukraine war rules out poisoning
Russian journalist who protested against the Ukraine war on live TV is ‘feeling much better’ and rules out being poisoned after she was rushed to hospital in France
- Marina Ovsyannikova said: ‘There are no toxic substances in the blood’
A Russian journalist who protested against the Ukraine war live on air says she is ‘feeling much better’ after she was rushed to hospital in France after a suspected poisoning.
Marina Ovsyannikova, 45, called emergency services yesterday and was hospitalised after suddenly falling ill as she left her Paris apartment and said she suspected she had been poisoned.
However, Ovsyannikova said today that tests had revealed that this was not the case.
‘I’m feeling much better now,’ she posted on Telegram. ‘Most of the test results are back. There are no toxic substances in the blood. We’re not talking about poisoning.’
No white powder had been found, she added, contrary to what was first reported.
Marina Ovsyannikova, 45, called emergency services yesterday and was hospitalised after suddenly falling ill as she left her Paris apartment and said she suspected she was poisoned. However, Ovsyannikova said today that tests had revealed that this was not the case
Ovsyannikova drew international attention in March 2022 after appearing behind the anchor of an evening news broadcast with a sign that said, ‘Stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here’
‘The deterioration of my condition was so sudden that the French police decided to investigate,’ she said, posting from what appeared to be her hospital bed.
She said prosecutors opening an investigation was ‘not surprising, since Putin’s Russia has long been associated with war and the poisoning of politicians and journalists’.
Ovsyannikova, who worked at Russian state television Channel One, drew international attention in March last year after appearing behind the anchor of an evening news broadcast with a sign that said, ‘Stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.’
She was charged with disparaging the Russian military and fined 30,000 rubles (£253).
She later staged a protest near the Kremlin in July last year. She was detained and placed under house arrest before escaping to France with her daughter.
‘I’m feeling much better now,’ Ovsyannikova posted on Telegram. ‘Most of the test results are back. There are no toxic substances in the blood. We’re not talking about poisoning’
‘The deterioration of my condition was so sudden that the French police decided to investigate,’ Ovsyannikova said
Earlier this month, a Moscow court sentenced her to eight and a half years in prison in absentia for spreading false information about the Russian army.
It was the latest example of a Russian crackdown on dissent that has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 20 months ago.
The scale of the crackdown has been unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia.
Several high-profile opposition politicians have said they were poisoned for political reasons, including Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza.
The government of Germany, where Navalny recovered, said tests provides clear proof that he was poisoned by a chemical nerve agent Novichok.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed claims that it has targeted critics in this way.
But it has ramped up pressure on independent media and NGOs, with many declared foreign agents or shut down under fear of prosecution.
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