Fears are growing for a Russian journalist who is said to be missing after interrupting the main news programme on the country’s most popular TV channel, holding a sign which told viewers: “They are lying to you.”

During the live broadcast on Channel One on Monday evening, Marina Ovsyannikova, who is thought to have worked for the company for years, walked on to the set behind the presenter with a placard denouncing the country’s invasion of Ukraine – a move the Kremlin has described as “hooliganism”.

It was a risky protest in a country where independent media has been blocked or shuttered, and it has become illegal to contradict the government’s narrative of the war.

The UN’s human rights office has called on Russian authorities to ensure that she “does not face any reprisals for exercising her right to freedom of expression”.

Follow live updates on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Posting on Twitter, human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said Ms Ovsyannikova had been imprisoned, referencing the Russian news agency TASS.

“Marina Ovsyannikova has not yet been found,” he wrote. “She has been imprisoned for more than 12 hours.

Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin trying to justify invasion by holding ‘faux elections’, Foreign Office minister warns

Ukraine: Briton who travelled to warzone to join military fight against Russia leaves over ‘suicide mission’ fears

Ukraine war: Boris Johnson calls on Western nations to ‘take back control’ of energy supplies to end ‘addiction’ to Russian oil and gas

“The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is conducting a pre-investigation check against Ovsyannikova, a TASS source reports.

“The pre-investigation check does not provide grounds for detention and imprisonment.”

What happens now?

Mr Chikov, who is head of the Russian human rights group Agora, said Ms Ovsyannikova had been arrested and taken to a police station in Moscow.

She may face charges under a law against discrediting the armed forces, TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source.

The law, passed on 4 March, makes public actions aimed at discrediting Russia’s army illegal and bans the spread of fake news or the “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”. The offence carries a jail term of up to 15 years.

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Speaking in a video address early on Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Ms Ovsyannikova.

What did Ms Ovsyannikova do on air?

During the on-air protest, the placard in English read: “No war. Russians against war.” In Russian, it said: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.”

While she stood behind the host who continued to read from her autocue, Ms Ovsyannikova could be heard saying: “Stop the war! No war! Stop the war! No war!”

She could still be heard after the broadcast was switched to alternative output.

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.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

She said that “unfortunately” she had been working for Channel One in recent years, working for the “Kremlin’s propaganda and I’m very ashamed of it – that I was letting them tell those lies from the TV screen… and allowed the Russian people to be zombified”.

She added: “We kept silent in 2014 when all of this was just in the beginning (annexation of Crimea). We didn’t go to rallies when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this inhumane regime. Now the whole world has turned away from us, and even 10 generations of our descendants will not be enough to wash away the shame of this fratricidal war.

“We, the Russian people, thoughtful and smart. It’s up to us to stop this madness. Go to rallies, don’t be afraid of anything, they can’t imprison all of us.”

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.

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”.

In other developments

• Kyiv mayor announces 35-hour curfew as UK warns of ‘subversion of democracy’
• UK bans luxury goods exports to Russia and hikes import tariffs on products
• Briton who travelled to warzone to join military fight against Russia leaves over ‘suicide mission’ fears
• Roman Abramovich ‘back in Moscow’ after being ‘spotted at Israeli airport’ as EU ‘agrees to impose sanctions’
• Vladimir Putin trying to justify invasion by holding ‘faux elections’, Foreign Office minister warns

Related posts:

Olivia Wilde praises Harry Styles for allowing ‘a woman to hold the spotlight’ Ashley Judd: I would have died or lost leg without African rainforest ‘heroes’ ‘Buckle up!’ Fourth series of Killing Eve will be the last Kanye West becomes the richest black man in US history Janine is back! Charlie Brooks confirms return to EastEnders Sting shares tribute to former pupil he taught in Northumberland during the 1970s ‘A huge error of judgment’: Tom and Giovanna Fletcher apologise for using furlough scheme Kate Moss revealed as new face of Kim Kardashian West’s shapewear brand SKIMS ‘My dad would be so proud’: Kim Kardashian passes first law exam at fourth attempt Search warrant issued for Alec Baldwin’s phone, according to Santa Fe court Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe to play ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in new biopic Britney Spears’ father spied on her using secret listening device, ex-FBI agent claims