Opinion: Russian producer who challenged Putin on live TV is a hero

Remember the name Marina Ovsyannikova. She is a hero. She also is a Russian.

On Monday, Ovsyannikova stood up to Vladimir Putin, the murderous dictator who terrorizes protesters, dissidents, journalists and anyone else inside Russia who dares to question his barbaric regime.

And she did it on live TV. Inside Russia.

During the nightly newscast, Ovsyannikova, an editor at the government-controlled Russian Channel One, rushed onto the set to proclaim: "Stop the war. No to war!"

'They're lying to you'

Standing behind the TV anchor, who continued to spout propaganda during the protest, Ovsyannikova held up a sign that said in Russian: “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.” In English it said: “No war ... Russians against war."

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Her now former employer cut away from the protest, and Ovsyannikova reportedly has been arrested. But not before she shared with her fellow citizens something desperately in short supply in Russia: the truth.

In a recorded video posted on social media, Ovsyannikova said she is ashamed of spreading "Kremlin propaganda" while working at Channel One.

"We were silent in 2014 when this was just beginning," she said in the video. "We did not go out to protest when the Kremlin poisoned (opposition leader Alexei) Navalny. We are just silently watching this anti-human regime. And now the whole world has turned away from us and the next 10 generations won’t be able to clean themselves from the shame of this fratricidal war.

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“What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor. The responsibility of this aggression lies on the shoulders of only one person: Vladimir Putin."

She ended the video with a call for her fellow Russians to take to the streets: “Only we have the power to stop all this madness. Go to the protests. Don’t be afraid of anything. They can’t imprison us all.”

Russia arrests thousands of protesters

Ovsyannikova isn't the first ordinary Russian to rise up against Putin. Thousands of protesters have been arrested since the war began. For years, dissidents such as Navalny, now trapped in a penal colony far from Moscow, have risked their freedom and their lives to object to Putin's butchery. And journalists like Ovsyannikova have long been frequent targets of Putin's thugs.

The world's rush to rally around Ukrainians' fight for freedom has been one of the few bright lights as Europe retreats into its dark past of war and oppression. But Russians far from the halls of power also have been targeted for reprisals.

In Canada, for instance, Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev's concerts were canceled, even though the 20-year-old virtuoso had posted on Facebook that "every Russian will feel guilty for decades because of the terrible and bloody decision that none of us could influence and predict." He's not the only artist punished because of Putin.

And so, I'll say again: Remember Marina Ovsyannikova.

She spoke truth to a power that can lock her away, kill her, erase all mention of her inside her homeland – and she did so precisely because she is a Russian who loves her country.

So, by all means, cancel Vladimir Putin. Cancel the corrupt oligarchs who have enabled his reign of terror.

But don't cancel the Russian people. They have the power, as Marina Ovsyannikova bravely said, to "stop all this madness."

Tim Swarens is deputy opinion editor for USA TODAY. Follow him on Twitter: @tswarens

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Russian TV editor shows courage in defying Putin on air