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
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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