Amid the media crackdown in Russia a stark photo shows how an independent Russian media outlet was forced to censor an anti-war protest on Russian state TV

• A protesting editor interrupted Russian state TV shouting "Stop the war! No to war!"
• Russian outlet Novaya Gazeta covered the protest but was unable to show the protester's sign.

Independent Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta was forced to censor an anti-war protest that interrupted Russian state TV, as the Russian government has increased censorship on the war in Ukraine with new laws that have impacted protest and the press.

On Monday, Maria Ovsyannikova interrupted a broadcast, shouting "Stop the war! No to war! Stop the war! No to war!" Ovsyannikova, an editor of the broadcaster Channel One, was arrested for the demonstration, according to TASS, a Russian-state news agency, Insider reported.

Her sign read "Don't believe the propaganda" and "They are lying to you here," Insider reported.

Yet, on Novaya Gazeta's Twitter feed and on its website the poster was blurred out.

"On the air of the Vremya program, behind the back of the host Ekaterina Andreeva, a girl appeared with a poster, the full content of which we are forbidden to transfer to Roskomnadzor and the Criminal Code," Novaya Gazeta reported Monday, showing a photo of the protest with a blurred out poster.

Novaya Gazeta is known for being an independent news organization, despite Russia's hostility to freedom of the press — six of its reporters have been killed since it was founded. In 2021, editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa "for their courageous fight for freedom of expression."

Since the start of Russia's attack on Ukraine, however, the crackdown on Russian media and protesters has increased, leading some foreign bureaus to pull out of Russia altogether.

Russian media censorship has created a sort of "Stalinesque crackdown on reporting" for the country's citizens, according to Al Jazeera. Journalists and others can be punished for up to 15 years for using the word "war" as opposed to "special military operation" in regards to the invasion of Ukraine.

Despite anti-war protests erupting across the country, many Russians deny or are completely unaware of the existence of the war against Ukraine.

Putin's war started on February 24, 2022, and has killed nearly 600 Ukrainian civilians, though the number is likely an undercount, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.