The west should have a policy in which anyone arrested for protesting in Russia is eligible for asylum in the U.S. or EU.

Putin would never let them leave, though. Can you imagine how many demonstrators he’d have on his hands if word got around that opposing the war was people’s ticket out?

Meet Marina Ovsyannikova, a woman of unusual courage. This isn’t the most compelling video she made today, if you can believe it.

A woman burst onto Russia’s main live evening newscast today with a sign that says:

“Stop the war
Don’t believe propaganda
They’re lying to you”

And chanting: “Stop the war! No to war!”pic.twitter.com/pKVKZFVEM3

— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 14, 2022

Ovsyannikova is an editor at Russia’s Channel One, which, as I understand it, is easily the equivalent of a broadcast network in the U.S. She crashed the Russian counterpart to the NBC Nightly News with a “no war” sign, in other words, less than two weeks after Russia passed a law authorizing 15-year prison sentences for spreading “false information” about the war.

Reportedly the 15-year sentence is reserved for repeat offenders. As a first offender, Ovsyannikova should be facing misdemeanor charges according to TASS. But what happens once Russian authorities discover that she made a second video today, one far more pointedly critical of the regime and its propaganda than the clip above?

Here's her full speech, translated into English. https://t.co/PNWGswtcIr https://t.co/Og6Z0Gx95E pic.twitter.com/2FKBT5Aecs

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 14, 2022

An example will be made of her. They can’t let the glamorous news lady slide and risk viewers drawing the conclusion that protests will be tolerated, especially in a format watched by millions.

Russia is on a zero-tolerance footing for anti-war sentiment. And when I say zero, I mean z-e-r-o.

One of the most extraordinary videos I’ve ever seen. The first woman is holding up a sign that says ‘two words’. pic.twitter.com/6tP89LjYyP

— Jonathan Lis (@jonlis1) March 14, 2022

The country is teetering economically, watching western corporations head for the hills, and instead of doing what little it can to induce them to stay it’s threatening corporate leaders with prison if they dare criticize Putin’s glorious misadventure:

Russian prosecutors have issued warnings to Western companies in Russia, threatening to arrest corporate leaders there who criticize the government or to seize assets of companies that withdraw from the country, according to people familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors delivered the warnings in the past week to companies including Coca-Cola Co., McDonald’s Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., International Business Machines Corp. and KFC owner Yum Brands Inc., the people said. The calls, letters and visits included threats to sue the companies and seize assets including trademarks, the people said…

The warnings have prompted at least one of the targeted companies to limit communications between its Russian business and the rest of the company, out of concern that emails or text messages among colleagues may be intercepted, some of the people said.

Other companies have moved to transfer executives out of Russia, other people familiar with the matter said.

As if that wasn’t reason enough to avoid doing business in Russia, Putin signed a bill today to nationalize the assets of any company that leaves. Western sanctions could lift tomorrow and it might yet be decades before any U.S. corporations are willing to dip a toe into this ruthless basket case of a country again.

To my surprise, Russian media outlets are covering Ovsyannikova’s protest today. How they’re covering it is less of a surprise:

This is how Russian news outlets in compliance with domestic censorship laws are reporting Marina Ovsyannikova’s anti-war protest today. pic.twitter.com/g79BQoJCYB

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 14, 2022

And here’s how Novaya Gazeta is forced to report Ovsyannikova’s protest. https://t.co/bojtL9jdhf

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 14, 2022

I suppose Russian media has no choice but to report on an incident which millions of people watched with their own eyes. If they ignore it, it might confirm for Russians that the regime is blacking out unfavorable news, which might get them to wondering what sort of unfavorable news from Ukraine they’re not hearing. By covering Ovsyannikova’s stunt but blacking out the message, they can claim that they’re giving Russians the warts-and-all truth of what’s happening in the world. Everything’s going great across the border!

But it’s not. I’ll leave you with this terrible announcement from Fox today. Ovsyannikova isn’t the only journalist in danger.

Breaking: Fox says that correspondent Benjamin Hall has been hospitalized after being injured reporting in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/KYoqv6P1Ok

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 14, 2022