Chronicle of the war with Ukraine. Day 20

An employee of Channel One burst onto the air with an anti-war poster. She was taken to court for an administrative hearing.

22:10

24-year-old Ukrainian journalist Alexandra Kuvshinova, who accompanied the film crew of the Fox News channel as a producer, died, the BBC reports , citing channel employees. Earlier today it became known about the death of TV channel operator Pierre Zakrzewski.

They were both in the car when they were shot at. This happened in the village of Gorenka in the Kyiv region.

Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was wounded.

21:03

Rossiya 1 TV presenter Sergei Brilev did not confirm the information about his departure from VGTRK. He added that he was on a business trip in Brazil.

Brilev hosts the program “News on Saturday”. After the start of the war, she did not go on air for two weeks.

20:38

Among the reasons the European Union included the new CEO of Yandex, Tigran Khudaverdyan, on the sanctions list was that on February 24 he attended a meeting of the owners of large Russian businesses with Putin. Journalist Sultan Suleymanov drew attention to this.

“The fact that he was invited to this meeting shows that he is a member of Putin’s inner circle of oligarchs and he supports or implements actions or policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the document says .

This morning Yandex announced that Khudaverdyan will become the company's CEO.

20:11

The mayor of the Kuban city of Timashevsk, Nikolai Panin, addressed the “fleachers” who had lost income due to the blocking of social networks, and called on them to get jobs as “mowers, cleaners, landscaping workers” and “finally get down to business.”

20:06

The European Union imposed sanctions against billionaire Roman Abramovich, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, pro-Kremlin journalists Armen Gasparyan, Artem Sheinin, general director of Channel One Konstantin Ernst, ex-wife of Rosneft head Igor Sechin Marina and several other Russians.

Nine enterprises with state participation, including defense ones, were sanctioned.

19:34

After the meeting, Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova said that she was interrogated for 14 hours, during which time she was not allowed to call her family or lawyer.

19:29

19:02

The Ostankino court in Moscow fined Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova 30 thousand rubles, who yesterday burst into the air of the Vremya program with an anti-war poster, Mediazona reports .

Judge Anna Bolotnikova found Ovsyannikov guilty of calling for an uncoordinated action (Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). The protocol was drawn up not because of the incident in the studio, but because of the video message, at the end of which Ovsyannikova said “go to rallies <...> they can’t jail us all.”

18:49

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a letter about Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe to the organization’s Secretary General, RIA Novosti reports with reference to State Duma Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy.

“Russia is leaving the Council of Europe of its own free will, this is a balanced and deliberate decision,” Tolstoy said.

PACE today was supposed to discuss the exclusion of Russia from the Council.

Earlier, human rights activist Pavel Chikov explained that in order to leave the Council of Europe, the country’s parliament must pass a law denouncing the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the head of state must sign it. At the same time, the state will cease to be a member of the Council only from January 1 of the next year.

18:41

Sergei Brilev on Rossiya 1 hosts the weekly program “News on Saturday,” but after the release on February 26, the program did not air for two weeks.

18:33

Fox News reported the death of its cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski in Ukraine. He worked with TV channel journalist Benjamin Hall, who was wounded yesterday near Kiev.

Zakrzewski worked in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, the TV channel host noted. He was 55 years old.

18:06

French President Emmanuel Macron said that France will offer assistance to Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova, who interrupted the broadcast of the Vremya program by going into the studio with an anti-war poster, Reuters reports .

“Obviously we will take diplomatic steps to offer assistance, either through our embassy or in another form,” Macron said. He also promised that he would discuss this incident with Putin.

17:52

The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter are included in the Russian “stop list” in response to Western sanctions.

The list included several high-ranking American officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, CIA Director William Burns, and White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki.

In addition, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was included in the stop list.

16:53

Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova was taken to the Ostankino District Court to consider an administrative case, Novaya Gazeta writes , citing the court’s press service.

A protocol on an uncoordinated action was drawn up against the girl (Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code).

Lawyer Sergei Badamshin published in his Telegram channel a photo from the court of lawyer Anton Gashinsky together with Ovsyannikova.

16:49

Russian Slack users have been reporting the deletion of workspaces since March 12, TJournal writes , citing reviews in the App Store and Google Play.

Accounts were deleted without warning and without the opportunity to save data. This also affected those who had paid for the paid version for a year in advance.

“Some reviews indicate that 1,500-2,000 people worked in the spaces,” TJ notes.

The publication vc.ru found four people on social networks by names or nicknames from reviews in the App Store - all of them indicated on their pages that they work in Sber divisions, but none of them answered journalists’ questions about Slack. Based on reviews from Google Play, two people were found - an employee of a Sber division and an employee of the Artesio software development company.

The Sber press service confirmed that their workspaces in the application are not currently available, but noted that less than 5% of development teams used Slack.

Salesforce announced a week ago that it would stop working with clients from Russia, but did not specify whether this would affect the Slack application, which it owns.

16:26

Journalist Roman Super said that reporter Vadim Glusker quit from NTV, and journalist Zhanna Agalakova quit Channel One.

Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov said that Glusker confirmed this information to him: he quit on March 2.

“Friends from Channel One report that after yesterday’s speech by Ovsyannikova there was a terrible commotion on the channel. All employees who come to work are thoroughly searched,” writes Super.

Glusker has worked for NTV since 1993: first in the presidential pool, and then as an international correspondent. Agalakova has worked on the First Channel since 1999, and for the last 17 years she has also been covering news from abroad.

16:23

The Moscow department of the Investigative Committee has registered material regarding Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova, but this has not yet been a criminal case, wrote human rights activist Pavel Chikov with reference to lawyer Daniil Berman. The defender is located at the Investigative Committee headquarters.

Ovsyannikova herself is not there.

Earlier, a TASS source spoke about the beginning of a pre-investigation check due to the fact that a girl yesterday broke into the air on Channel One with an anti-war poster.

16:17

17 Ukrainian rescuers died as a result of hostilities, said Colonel of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine Gennady Gerasimchuk. 32 rescuers were injured.

Another service employee was captured; he participated in the evacuation of civilians in Gostomel in the Kyiv region on March 11.

16:11

Two thousand cars carrying local residents left Mariupol, the city council reports . Another two thousand cars are parked at the exit from the city, blocked by the Russian military.

Ukrainian authorities reported for several days that they were unable to deliver humanitarian aid to the city due to shelling.

15:53

15:48

The UK has added another 345 Russians to its sanctions list.

Among those sanctioned are pro-Kremlin journalists Vladimir Solovyov, Margarita Simonyan, Tigran Kosayan, Olga Skabeeva, the head of Channel One Konstantin Ernst, writer Zakhar Prilepin and cellist Sergei Roldugin, who is called a friend of Putin. The list included presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov with his wife and older children.

Also on the sanctions list are the children of the Rotenberg brothers, the sons of Rostec head Sergei Chemezov, the son of Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, the wife and children of Vnesheconombank Chairman Igor Shuvalov, the wife, mother and children of businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is considered the founder of Wagner PMC. Bankers Pyotr Aven and Mikhail Fridman are also now under sanctions.

Restrictions will also be imposed on Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, head of the National Guard Viktor Zolotov, Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, head of government Mikhail Mishustin, and former President Dmitry Medvedev.

15:07

The password manager 1Password has been removed from the Russian App Store, Russian users have noticed this. The service is also not available for Russian users on Google Play.

The Russian version of the 1Password website continues to work. The company has not officially announced its withdrawal from Russia. On March 3, 1Password employees began a collection in support of the people of Ukraine.

14:47

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky signed a law on criminal penalties for cooperation with Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Alexander Kornienko said on the Ukraine-24 TV channel.

The law introduces a new article into the Criminal Code of Ukraine - “collaboration activities.”

According to it, for calls to support and cooperate with the aggressor state, as well as not to recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine over its regions occupied by foreign troops, they face a ban on holding certain positions for 10 to 15 years.

Propaganda in support of armed aggression is already punishable by up to three years in prison, and for material assistance to the military of the attacking country or doing business with its representatives - up to five years.

Those who participate in organizing and conducting events of a political nature - congresses, meetings, rallies, conferences - or information activities in collaboration with the aggressor state can receive sentences of 10 to 12 years in prison.

Working in judicial or law enforcement agencies created by this state in the occupied territory already carries a prison sentence of 12 to 15 years.

The law on collaborationist activities also makes it possible to ban political parties and public associations if their “authorized persons” are convicted under a new criminal article.

14:11

Russia has also requested long-term food rations for the military from China as military assistance, according to two CNN sources familiar with the situation.

Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly reported that Russian military personnel stationed in the country take food from grocery stores and ask local residents for it.

CNN, citing a source, notes that there is no consensus among the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party on providing assistance to Russia. Some officials are concerned that such aid could harm economic relations with the West. Russian authorities had previously denied the request for help.

13:42

A St. Petersburg resident was sent to a pre-trial detention center because of the inscriptions “No to war” and “Putin is a fascist!” at the memorial “Mass grave of soldiers of the Soviet Army who died defending Leningrad in 1941-1943,” reports OVD-Info.

According to activist Dinar Idrisov, a criminal case has been opened against the arrested person for desecration of a burial site for political reasons (clause “b” of Part 2 of Article 244 of the Criminal Code). The man faces up to five years in prison.

Idrisov said that the author of the inscription is an engineer, he has two small children, and his wife is expecting a third child.

13:03

Footballer Artem Dzyuba asked not to be called up to the national team because of the war in Ukraine, where his relatives live, said the coach of the Russian football team Valery Karpin.

“On Sunday we talked with Artem by phone, he assured that, as he said at the meeting, he really wants to play for the national team. But now, due to the difficult situation in Ukraine, where he has many relatives, he apologized and asked for family reasons not to invite him to this gathering. We agreed that we will remain in touch with him,” the website of the Russian Football Union quotes Karpin.

The team's training camp is scheduled to take place in Moscow on March 21.

12:47

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov called the act of an employee of Channel One, who burst into the air with an anti-war poster, hooliganism.

“As for this girl, well, this is hooliganism. The channel and those who are supposed to deal with this,” Podem quotes Peskov.

12:01

Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) is beginning the nationalization of Russian carriages, reports the head of the company’s board, Alexander Kamyshin.

According to him, at least three thousand cars that remain on Ukrainian tracks belong to Russian companies.

11:49

The European Union, in a new sanctions package, introduced restrictions on the import of steel and iron products from Russia and banned the export of luxury goods to the country, TASS reports citing the Council of Europe.

Restrictions have also been introduced on investments in the oil and energy sectors of the Russian market.

11:41

In the Rivne region, 19 people were killed as a result of yesterday's missile attack on a television tower, the regional administration reports . Nine more people were injured.

On the morning of March 14, two missiles hit the television tower and the administrative premises near it.

11:24

A resident of Yekaterinburg was fined 45 thousand rubles for an anti-war art object, E1 reports .

30-year-old Pavel installed an installation in the form of a pack of cigarettes at the Sverdlovsk Academic Drama Theater (Dramtheater). On it, by analogy with the warning from the Ministry of Health, it is written: “Common sense warns: a special military operation kills.”

The court found Pavel guilty of discrediting Russian troops (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The publication notes that this is the first administrative case in Yekaterinburg under an article introduced only on March 4.

The court decision states that the Yekaterinburg resident, with his art object, “distorted and discredited the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation.”

10:52

NTV presenter Liliya Gildeeva, who has worked on the channel since 2006, left Russia, Varlamov News reports . After leaving, she wrote a letter of resignation.

“At first I left, I was afraid that they wouldn’t just let me go, then I wrote a statement,” Gildeeva said.

She hosted the news program “Today”.

10:43

The number of advertisements for apartments for rent in Moscow has increased by 40% since February 24, Alexey Popov, head of TsIAN.Analytika, told Forbes.

This is due to the fact that some owners decided to postpone the sale of apartments during the period of uncertainty and rent out housing, and the income of some tenants decreased and they had to give up renting.

10:35

The Investigative Committee has begun a pre-investigation check against Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova, who burst into the air of the Vremya program with an anti-war poster, TASS reports , citing a source in law enforcement agencies.

According to him, the audit is under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code - public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces. The source claims that they did not open an administrative case against Ovsyannikova - the materials were immediately transferred to the Investigative Committee.

There are no messages about the inspection on the website of the main and Moscow departments of the Investigative Committee yet.

10:18

The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that Russian troops have taken control of the entire Kherson region.

10:09

In the Svyatoshinsky district of Kiev early this morning, ammunition hit a nine- and sixteen-story building, reports the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Two people died. Yesterday morning, a shell hit a nine-story building in the Obolonsky district of the city.

The department also reports that seven people died in Kharkov as a result of yesterday’s shelling of houses.

9:46

9:44

Last night, a TV channel employee burst into the air of the Vremya program on Channel One with an anti-war poster. She hasn't been in touch for 12 hours now.

British journalist working for Fox News Benjamin Hall was wounded in Ukraine.

It became known about the death of one of the pregnant girls evacuated from the Mariupol maternity hospital after the shelling. They also could not save the child.

In Russia, concert organizers, venues and musicians began to release lists of banned artists and songs - they included Russian and Ukrainian musicians who spoke out against the war.

In London, activists entered the mansion of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and hung a Ukrainian flag on the building.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) of Russia Arkady Dvorkovich spoke out against the war in Ukraine: “War is the worst thing you can encounter in life. Any war. Anywhere. Including this war."

Cover photo: Caroline Hubert