“My son thinks I destroyed our family life with my protest”: reveals Russian TV protester Marina Ovsyannikova

Moscow: Russian TV journalist, who held up an anti-war protester during a live-tv air show, has quit her job at Russian state television and refused French President Emmanuel Macron's offer of asylum.

In an interview with Germany's Spiegel International, Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One television, said, "I don't want to leave our country. I am a patriot, and my son is an even greater one. We definitely don't want to leave or emigrate anywhere."

The Russian journalist had burst on to the sets of the live broadcast holding placard: "Stop the war. No to war" and holding placard: "Don't believe the propaganda. They're lying to you here. Russians against the war."

She was later arrested and a Moscow court fined her 30,000 rubles.

According to France 24, she is quitting her job at Russian state television. The journalist, who has two young children, said that her son thought that she had "destroyed" their "family life" with her protest.

She said, "But I explained to him that in life, you have to react and make decisions that are often complicated. Above all, we must bring an end to this fratricidal war. We must stop this madness before we reach something like nuclear war. So I think when my son is a bit older he will be able to understand my gesture." (UNI)