Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian TV journalist known for on-air Ukraine war protest falls ill after suspected poisoning
Guardian liveblog:
Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who fell ill in France where she lives in exile after protesting the offensive in Ukraine on Russian state TV, said tests had not revealed poisoning, AFP reports.
Several Kremlin critics have reported being poisoned, and on Thursday French prosecutors opened an investigation into suspected poisoning after Ovsyannikova felt unwell.
She posted on Telegram:
I’m feeling much better now.
Most of the test results are back. There are no toxic substances in the blood. We’re not talking about poisoning.
No white powder had been found, she added, contrary to what was first reported.
Posting from what appeared to be her hospital bed, she said:
The deterioration of my condition was so sudden that the French police decided to investigate.
She said prosecutors opening an investigation was “not surprising, since Putin’s Russia has long been associated with war and the poisoning of politicians and journalists”.
Ovsyannikova, who fled Russia last autumn, had held up a protest placard during the main evening news programme on Russia’s Channel One in March 2022.
In her absence, a Russian court sentenced her to more than eight years in prison this month for a separate protest she made outside the Kremlin four months later.
Several high-profile opposition politicians have said they were poisoned for political reasons, including Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza.
