Ukraine crisis: News anchor speaks out against Russian aggression during live broadcast on state-funded TV channel

Russia Today anchor Abby Martin voiced her personal views live on air (Russia Today)

A journalist working for the state-funded Russia Today news channel spoke out against Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine during a live broadcast – and was promptly ordered to Crimea by the station.

Abby Martin, who works as a news anchor in Washington, told viewers that “Russia was wrong”.

She admitted that she did not “know as much as I should about Ukraine’s history or the cultural dynamics of the region”.

“But what I do know is that military intervention is never the answer,” she said on her Breaking the Set show.

“All we can do now is hope for a peaceful outcome to a terrible situation… until then I’ll keep telling the truth as I see it.”

Shortly afterwards Russia Today said it was sending her to Crimea to “better her knowledge” of the crisis.

But Ms Martin, who said she had editorial independence on her programme, told The Daily Telegraph that she was not going to go.