Former Russian state TV journalist claims Putin ‘doesn’t have enough Novichok’ to kill growing number of critics
A former Russian state TV journalist has claimed that an “isolated” Vladimir Putin “doesn’t have enough Novichok” to kill his growing number of critics.
Russian dissident Marina Ovsyannikova, who made global headlines for her on-air protest against the war in Ukraine last year, spoke to Beth Rigby Interviews where she provoked the Russian president once again.
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“I think that Putin doesn’t have enough Novichok for all his opponents. Because actually when the war started, many more people started speaking against the regime and many more will do that,” she said.
Novichok was the military-grade nerve agent used in the 2018 Salisbury poisonings, and to attack the Russian opposition politician, Alexei Navalny in 2020.
Ms Ovsyannikova, who worked for the Channel One Russia television channel from 2003 until last year, expressed hopes that the Russian president could be toppled by those around him, and addressed recent criticism of Mr Putin by the Wagner mercenary group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin and another wavering Putin loyalist, Ramzan Kadyrov. He is currently serving as the Head of the Chechen Republic and is also a colonel general in the Russian military and has openly criticised the performance of Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ms Ovsyannikova said: “I think Ukraine will start winning the war and then this will just divide the elites.”
“Look what happening now…. what Prigozhin is saying. Prigozhin is speaking up. And then [Ramzan] Kadyrov is also saying something else. And I hope that the system will break up from the inside.”
Asked if it could be Russia’s elites that overthrow Putin, Ms Ovsyannikova said that since opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in prison, “there is no leader who would be able to consolidate people”.
She added: “There is no active organisation. So I think the elites will divide and well, we don’t know – this might not be a classic coup. No one, probably, is going to kill or poison Putin, but someone from his inner circle might come to him one day and say, Vladimir, we’re losing the war. It’s time to go.
“On the last day of war, when Russia loses the war, this will be his last day. This is clear. He fears for his life. He is in his bunker. He’s isolated.”
Marina Ovsyannikova and Beth Rigby
Ms Ovsyannikova described Navalny as a “hero” but said even his death would not be enough to bring people out to protest on the streets.
She also expressed fears over his deteriorating health, telling Sky News: “We know that he’s being tortured just in front of the world’s eyes. God forbid he dies. But I don’t think that will trigger any mass protest, because you need to understand Russian people are intimidated and there is nothing that will make people take to the streets.
“The police are everywhere and you just raise your head from the ground and your life will be upended.”
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Ms Ovsyannikova also touched on the detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich in Russia, describing it as Putin’s way of sending a “signal” to foreign journalists to stay out of his country.
However, she did say Mr Gershkovich could be released in a prisoner swap.
“Evan Gershkovich was taken hostage and he will be used as a token. He will be exchanged as an exchange for other people loyal to Putin who are now in American or British prisons,” she said.
“But at the same time, I believe that with this, Putin sent a very strong signal to all foreign journalists. Don’t stay here. Russia is a dangerous place”.
Recalling her protest against the War in Ukraine live on the Russian state TV channel where she worked, Ovsyannikova described how she felt compelled to act after seeing Russia’s invasion begin.
She said: “When the war started, well, I couldn’t look away. Blood was spilled. There were millions of refugees. And I could see all that on my screens. But this is not what propaganda was saying. It was all smoke and mirrors.
“I can say that the war became a point of no return for me, and that I could no longer keep silent. I could feel that I was living in a parallel reality. That the country was going completely totalitarian.”
You can watch Beth Rigby Interviews on Sky News at 9pm tonight
More than 100 politicians from 24 different countries, including the UK, the US and the EU, have written a joint letter condemning China over the “arbitrary detention and unfair trial” of Jimmy Lai, a tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner.
The parliamentarians, led by senior British Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, are “urgently” demanding the immediate release of the 77-year-old British citizen, who has been held in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison in Hong Kong for almost four years.
The letter – which will be embarrassing for Beijing – was made public on the eve of Mr Lai’s trial resuming and on the day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 summit of economic powers in Brazil.
It also comes as Hong Kong jailed 45 pro-democracy activists.
The group of politicians, who also include representatives from Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, Ukraine and France, said Mr Lai’s treatment was “inhumane”.
“He is being tried on trumped-up charges arising from his peaceful promotion of democracy, his journalism and his human rights advocacy,” they wrote in the letter, which has been seen by Sky News.
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“The world is watching as the rule of law, media freedom and human rights in Hong Kong are eroded and undermined.
“We stand together in our defence of these fundamental freedoms and in our demand that Jimmy Lai be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Sir Keir raised the case of Mr Lai during remarks released at the start of his talks with Mr Xi on Monday – the first meeting between a British prime minister and the Chinese leader in six years.
The prime minister could be heard expressing concerns about reports of Mr Lai’s deteriorating health. However, he did not appear to call for his immediate release.
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Ms Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Stamford in the East Midlands, said the meeting had been an opportunity to be unequivocal that the UK expects Mr Lai to be freed.
“Jimmy Lai is being inhumanely persecuted for standing up for basic human values,” she said in a statement, released alongside the letter.
“He represents the flame of freedom millions seek around the world.
“We have a duty to fight for Jimmy Lai as a British citizen, and to take a stand against the Chinese Community Party’s erosion of rule of law in Hong Kong.
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“This letter represents the strength of international feeling and commitment of parliamentarians globally to securing Jimmy Lai’s immediate release and return to the UK with his family.”
Mr Lai was famously the proprietor of the Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong, which wrote scathing reports about the local authorities and the communist government in mainland China after Britain handed back the territory to Beijing in 1997.
The tabloid was a strong supporter of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Hong Kong to demonstrate against the government in 2019.
But the media mogul was arrested the following year – one of the first victims of a draconian new security law imposed by the Chinese Communist Party.
His newspaper was closed after his bank accounts were frozen.
Mr Lai has since been convicted of illegal assembly and fraud. He is now on trial for sedition over articles published in Apple Daily.
World
Hong Kong jails 45 pro-democracy activists after accusing them of trying to overthrow the city’s government
Forty-five pro-democracy activists have been jailed in Hong Kong’s largest ever national security trial.
The activists sentenced with jail terms ranging from four years to ten years were accused of conspiracy to commit subversion after holding an unofficial primary election in Hong Kong in 2020.
They were arrested in 2021.
Hong Kong authorities say the defendants were trying to overthrow the territory’s government.
Democracy activist Benny Tai received the longest sentence of ten years. He became the face of the movement when thousands of protesters took to the city’s streets during the “Umbrella Movement” demonstrations.
However, Hong Kong officials accused him of being behind the plan to organise elections to select candidates.
Tai had pleaded guilty, his lawyers argued he believed his election plan was allowed under the city’s Basic Law.
Another prominent activist Joshua Wong received a sentence of more than four years.
Joshua Wong was sentenced to more than four years Pic: AP
Wong became one of the leading figures in the protests. His activism started as a 15 year old when he spearheaded a huge rally against a government plan to change the school curriculum.
Then in 2019 Hong Kong erupted in protests after the city’s government proposed a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. It peaked in June 2019 when Amnesty International reported that up to two million people marched on the streets, paralysing parts of Hong Kong’s business district.
The extradition bill was later dropped but it had ignited a movement demanding political change and freedom to elect their own leaders in Hong Kong.
China’s central government called the protests “riots” that could not continue.
Hong Kong introduced a national security law in the aftermath of the protests.
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A woman is taken away by police outside the court Pic: Reuters
The US has called the trial “politically motivated”.
Dozens of family and friends of the accused were waiting for the verdict outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court.
British citizen and media mogul Jimmy Lai is due to testify on Wednesday.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in Brazil, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told China’s President Xi Jinping he’s concerned about the health of Lai.
He faces charges of fraud and the 2019 protests. He has also been charged with sedition and collusion with foreign forces.
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