A stark warning about being on the brink of nuclear war has come from a media executive in Russia. The editor-in-chief of Russia Today, a Russian state-run media company known as RT, has resigned and condemned President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Maria Baronova said she understands the risks of speaking out against the Russian state, but is more concerned about the survival of sovereign nations than her own safety.
“The problem is, I know these people very well. They never send threats, they just kill, so there is kind of [a] weird silence around me, but I really think we’re on the brink of nuclear war right now. I’m not exaggerating,” Baronova told Fox News Digital from Moscow, via a WhatsApp call.
“I have a son, I can’t leave because his father won’t allow me to leave with him, and so I just prefer to stay in Moscow … It seems like we’re either in North Korea or we are going to be killed by a thermonuclear mushroom,” she said. “I wouldn’t quit, and I wouldn’t lose my salary and job if I was sure that we are going to be alive for many years, but I really don’t know what is going to happen to all of us next.”
Many are concerned that the power-hungry Putin will resort to nuclear war, but Baronova has a different concern. She fears retribution will be taken against Russia, and their people will suffer a catastrophic attack.
“I suspect the Western world will use it…this is a very dangerous situation,” said Baronova.
She explained that the last straw before quitting RT wasn’t any sort of on-air propaganda, but rather an Instagram message from her colleague who wrote, “If you are now ashamed of being Russian, don’t worry, you are not Russian,” as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine intensified.
“I was really disturbed by that tone and level of support,” Baronova said, noting that she publicly responded to her now-former coworker’s message.
“If I chose to be with Russia, this does not mean that I should walk in a totalitarian system, be silent or, for example, rejoice that the regime, which I do not want for my country, is being exported somewhere else,” Baronova wrote. “And this regime will finally turn our life into one endless hell. What’s there. Already turned.”
Baronova then stepped down from the state-run network. “That was the moment I decided, ‘OK, that’s it,’” she said.