DER SPIEGEL: You’ve worked for Channel One for years. Why did you only take action now?

Ovsyannikova: I am not very political, I've never gone to protests. Call it a cognitive dissonance that I have long repressed. You know, my dissatisfaction has been building up over all these years. The screws were gradually tightened further and further here: First, we could no longer freely elect the governors (Eds: the leaders of the various regions of Russia, similar to governors in Germany or the United States) as used to be the case. Then came all the events in Ukraine in 2014, the instability, the proclamation of the "Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics" and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. At the same time, the authorities began gradually shutting down or blocking the independent media. The beginning of the war against Ukraine was the point of no return for me. No one – neither me, nor my friends or family – expected it. We thought Russia, the United States and NATO were rattling sabers. That the diplomats would talk, defuse everything and the situation would calm down. When I woke up the morning of Feb. 24 and heard that Putin had started a war against Ukraine, one that was not just limited to the "People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk," but one in which the Russian army is advancing towards Kyiv, it was really a shock. It was terrible. Every normal thinking person in Russia was aware that they could not go on living the way they used to.

"I wanted to show that Russians are also against this war, which many people in the West don’t realize. The majority of smart and educated people here oppose the war."
DER SPIEGEL: You were born in Odessa. Do you still have relatives in Ukraine? Was that a reason for your protest?

Ovsyannikova: This is a war against a brother nation! No sane person can accept that. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian. It is true that I was born in Odessa back in Soviet times. When I was one, we left for Russia and I have lived here ever since. My father died in Odessa, his grave is there. I still have relatives, an aunt, cousins, but I have little contact with them. For me, the protest was first and foremost a pacifist action – it is in the interest of Russia and the world to end this as soon as possible. I wanted to show that Russians are also against this war, which many people in the West don’t realize. The majority of smart and educated people here oppose the war.

DER SPIEGEL: There are people who believe that your protest was planned, that it was staged by others.

Ovsyannikova: (laughs out loud) I’ve read that, but here I am, a real person. There is no fake, this was not a montage. I was in the studio at Channel One, the station has confirmed the incident, and there are colleagues who can do the same. The protest was my idea alone. I can see now that all possible versions are being spread, that all the forces of propaganda are being directed against me in order to slander me.

DER SPIEGEL: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has accused you of …

Ovsyannikova: ... yes, I know what he said (Eds: Peskov called the protest "hooliganism"). I’m enemy No. 1 here now.

DER SPIEGEL: Did you expect these consequences?

Ovsyannikova: I was so charged, angry, and I wanted to express that with my protest. At that moment, I didn’t think of such far-reaching consequences. I am now becoming aware of them. More and more each day.

"The beginning of the war against Ukraine was the point of no return for me. No one – neither me, nor my friends or family – expected it."
DER SPIEGEL: When did you make the decision? It looked like your protest had been long planned.

Ovsyannikova: We work at the station on an alternating weekly basis, one week of work, one week off. I was off until Sunday. That day, I bought paper and pens, prepared the poster in my kitchen and recorded the video, which I posted on Facebook after the action. I didn’t tell anyone in my family nor any of my friends or colleagues about my plan. Nobody knew about it – otherwise it probably would have gone wrong. A few knew that I was against the war, but nothing more.
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DER SPIEGEL: You’ve had a good life so far. You’ve traveled a lot, also to Western Europe, as one can see on your Facebook page.
Ovsyannikova: Yes, my life was good, I could not complain, it was the life of the Moscow middle class.

Ovsyannikova: My life will be totally different. I don’t know what is going to happen. Who knows in war time? No one can plan anymore, anyway. The war has destroyed all plans and it is causing so much suffering, especially in Ukraine. I am happy to be reading now that, one by one, other colleagues at state broadcasters are quitting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a rally before a packed soccer stadium on Friday to justify the invasion of Ukraine, promising tens of thousands of people waving Russian flags that all the Kremlin's aims would be achieved.

"We know what we need to do, how to do it and at what cost. And we will absolutely accomplish all of our plans," Putin told a rally at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

He said the soldiers fighting in what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine had illustrated the unity of Russia.

"Shoulder to shoulder, they help each other, support each other and when needed they shield each other from bullets with their bodies like brothers. Such unity we have not had for a long time," he said.

As Putin was talking, state television briefly cut away from his speech and showed earlier pre-recorded footage of patriotic songs, but the Kremlin chief later appeared back on state television.

RIA news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying a technical fault on a server was the reason state television had suddenly cut away from Putin.

Putin says the operation in Ukraine was necessary because the United States was using the country to threaten Russia and Russia had to defend against the "genocide" of Russian-speaking people by Ukraine.

Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and that Putin's claims of genocide are nonsense. The West says claims it wants to rip Russia apart are fiction.

The stage where Putin spoke was decked out with slogans "For a world without Nazism" and "For our president," using the "Z" - markings used in the military operation in Ukraine.

Before Putin spoke, Russia's stirring national anthem, with the words "Russia is our sacred state" boomed out across the stands of the stadium used in the 2018 Soccer World Cup along with more modern pop hits such as "Made in the U.S.S.R.."

Pan-Slavist poetry by Fyodor Tyutchev, whose verses warned Russians that they would always be considered slaves of the Enlightenment by Europeans, was read out.

In a speech at a packed Moscow stadium Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the “special military operation” in Ukraine is an effort to “save people from genocide” and to “demilitarize and denazify” the country.

During his appearance at the pro-Russia rally, which marked the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Putin also quoted Scripture. “There is no greater love than giving up one’s soul for one’s friends,” he said, paraphrasing Jesus’ words from John 15:13.