Russian propagandist Ovsyannikova did not receive the Media Freedom Award

Russian propagandist Marina Ovsyannikova was excluded from the list of winners of the German Media Freedom Award.

This was reported by a DW correspondent attending the award ceremony.

Before announcing the winners, the presenters noted that there are people in russia who stand for freedom of speech, but Ovsyannikova's name was not mentioned.

DW asked the organizers for a comment, but have not received it by the time of publication.

Earlier, the leader of the Belarusian opposition Svyatlana Tsikhanowska told DW that the prize will be awarded only to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and her.

"The award is presented to journalists who fight for freedom of speech. <…> Obviously, the situation when they try to unify Ukraine, russia and Belarus in this way is wrong. We are independent countries, we should not be attached to each other on any grounds. International journalism, independent journalism is great, but these are political movements that are probably inappropriate now," Tsikhanowska said.

As IMI has reported, on April 21, the German Weimer Media Group (WMG) gave the Media Freedom Award to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanowskaya and the former editor of the russian propaganda channel "Pervyy" Marina Ovsyannikova.

German media outlet Die Welt has hired the former editor of russian propaganda channel "Pervyy" Marina Ovsyannikova who "protested" the russian invasion of Ukraine on alleged live broadcast.

In the beginning of March, Ovsyannikova entered the studio during an allegedly live "Vremya" broadcast with a "No war" poster. The video recording of this part of the broadcast has been uploaded to YouTube. Later, the russian quit her work at the propaganda channel.

The Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security has reported that Ovsyannikova is currently an active asset in russian informational and psychological operations. Namely, she has gained recognition and credibility in the West and is using it to promote the narrative about the "necessity" of lifting the sanctions to Western audience.

On April 14, Ukrainian activists in Berlin demanded that Die Welt media group fires the former editor of russian propaganda channel "Pervyy" Marina Ovsyannikova.