Watch: News presenter goes spectacularly off-script to hit out at Russia over Crimea

Watch: News presenter goes spectacularly off-script to hit out at Russia over Crimea
By Euronews
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A presenter on a pro-Kremlin news programme has hit out at Russia’s military intervention in Crimea.

Abby Martin, a presenter on Russia Today’s Breaking the Set, ended the March 3 edition by going spectacularly off-script.

She said: “Before we wrap up the show I wanted to say something from my heart about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s military occupation of Crimea.

“Just because I work here, for RT, does not mean I don’t have editorial independence. I can’t stress enough how strongly I am against any state intervention in a sovereign nation’s affairs. What Russia did was wrong.”

Russia Today, in a statement to HuffPost UK, said: “Contrary to the popular opinion, RT doesn’t beat its journalists into submission, and they are free to express their own opinions, not just in private but on the air. This is the case with Abby’s commentary on the Ukraine.

“We respect her views, and the views of all our journalists, presenters and program hosts, and there will be absolutely no reprimands made against Ms. Martin.

“In her comment Ms. Martin also noted that she does not possess a deep knowledge of reality of the situation in Crimea. As such we’ll be sending her to Crimea to give her an opportunity to make up her own mind from the epicentre of the story.”

But Martin later took to Twitter to deny she would be going to Crimea.

Hi Josiensor</a>, thanks for your article. But I am not going to Crimea despite the statement RT has made. Please update accordingly.</p>&mdash; Abby Martin (AbbyMartin) March 4, 2014

Live on euronews : US, Russia, Ukraine, France and EU hold Paris talks to discuss Crimea crisis.

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