Marina Ovsiannikova, the journalist who denounced the offensive on Russian television, recounts her flight to France

The image of the Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova brandishing a sign to denounce the Russian offensive in Ukraine had marked the spirits. The association Reporters Without Borders said on Friday February 10 that it had organized his exfiltration to Paris in October. Marina Ovsiannikova and Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of RSF, spoke at a press conference to tell this incredible epic.

For months, the Reporters Without Borders association claims to have organized this leak “in the utmost discretion”. The secretary general of RSF says that he only mentioned the journalist by the code name “Evelyne”.

“My lawyer kept telling me, ‘Run, they’re going to put you in jail, you only have a few days left to save your life, save your child’s’. remember Marina Ovsiannikova. She recounts having fled Russia in two days, changing “seven times of vehicles” and borrowing “various directions”.

Hours of wandering in a field

But not everything went as planned. Shortly before reaching the border, the vehicle got stuck in a field, says the journalist. They continue on foot, “for hours”in this plowed field. “Thiswas difficult, we had no mobile network, we had to try to find our way with the stars”, remembers Marina Ovsiannikova. They end up reaching a forest, then crossing the border. “I was already losing hope (…), I was like ‘why did I decide to do this? Maybe it’s better to land in prison’…”recalls the Russian journalist.

“It was an extraordinary leak”, believes today Christophe Deloire, of Reporters Without Borders, who is delighted that “Marina has[it] obtained asylum in France”. Marina Ovsiannikova took advantage of this press conference to recall her opposition to the Russian regime, which she describes as criminal. “The Ukrainians have been resisting these attacks for a year and I wish the Ukrainians to return to their country and achieve victory.”