A protester interrupted Russia’s main evening news broadcast Monday, holding a sign saying “No War” and telling viewers not to believe the station’s “propaganda.”
The brief protest occurred on the state-owned, widely watched Russia One channel. The independent OVD-Info human rights group said the woman had been detained and taken into custody.
In the clip circulating social media, a newscaster is speaking in Russian while seated at a news desk when the protester enters the screen behind her.
The woman held up a large sign that said “NO WAR” at the top in English.
The sign, in English and Russian, read: "NO WAR. Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here." Another phrase, which looked like "Russians against war," was partly obscured.
The extraordinary protest took place on day 19 of the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a special military operation.
"Stop the war. No to war," the woman protesting could be heard shouting as the news anchor continued to read from her teleprompter.
The protester could be seen and heard for several seconds before the channel switched to a different report to remove her from the screen.
Earlier this month, the Kremlin made it a crime punishable by a 15-year prison term for people to spread “fake news” and describe the Ukraine invasion as a “war.”
Several foreign news outlets removed their staff or stopped broadcasting. Local independent news organizations have shuttered or submitted to censorship.
The Russian investigative news website Agentsvo reported this month that more than 150 journalists had fled the country.
