One October evening, Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist, took her young daughter and fled for the border one week before she was to stand trial for condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Her electronic bracelet indicated that she was supposed to be on house arrest.
She said at a press conference in Paris on Friday that her attorney had advised her to "flee, flee — they're going to put you in prison.".
She departed Moscow early on a weekend last year, thinking that police would be less active, and she changed vehicles seven times before walking toward the border.
She explained to me, "We had no mobile phone coverage, and our [last] vehicle got stuck in the mud. We tried to find our way by the stars. The escape was extremely risky and stressful.
She claimed that before successfully crossing the border, they trudged for hours close to it while avoiding border patrols.
Now living in Paris, Ms. Ovsyannikova, 44, claims she is still "of course" afraid for her life but thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is jeopardizing his position of authority by continuing the war in Ukraine.
The elite, she said, "know everything perfectly.".
The ruling elite—those who have lost their planes, yachts, and finances—understand everything, whereas the general populace is trapped in a propaganda bubble. I believe that the ruling class will hand Putin a sizable bill as soon as a Ukrainian victory is in reach.
Last March, Ms. Ovsyannikova made international headlines when she interrupted a live newscast at the state-run Channel One TV station where she was working with a sign that read, "No war, stop the war; don't believe the propaganda; they're lying to you here.".
She claimed that after being "immediately isolated by the FSB [Russia's security service]," her bosses began questioning her.
She told me as she gathered her belongings from the office, "I saw in the eyes of my coworkers a totally compassionate expression.
"They were saying goodbye while staring at me with wild eyes. They had the impression I would never be seen again.
Soon after, Ms. Ovsyannikova left Russia for Germany. She later came back, she claims, to fight for custody of her children.
She was charged under a new Russian law that prohibits "deliberately false information" about Russia's armed forces as a result of further protests, which included a demonstration close to the Kremlin in July.
It was forbidden by law to refer to the conflict as an "invasion," and state-run media outlets in Russia were instructed to refer to it as a "special military operation.".
Many Russian dissidents and Ukrainian journalists have expressed mistrust of Ms. Ovsyannikova despite the fact that she has been targeted by the Russian government, citing her prior work as an official spokesperson for that country.
Many Ukrainians demanded her immediate dismissal after she traveled to their country last summer to report on the conflict for Germany's Die Welt newspaper.