Auckland: A New Zealand woman under investigation by police for raising tens of thousands of dollars for the Russian military has left New Zealand for Russia.
Last week it was revealed that Antonina Ovchinnikova had used the encrypted messaging service Telegram to raise money for voluntary Russian army units fighting as part of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Auckland-based Antonina Ovchinnikova has raised money to send materials to Russians fighting in the invasion of Ukraine.Credit:Abigail Dougherty
On Wednesday, police confirmed they were investigating Ovchinnikova, who stopped posting to Telegram for three days after posting thousands of times since February.
Ovchinnikova has now broken her silence to reveal why she hadn’t posted.
She had flown “home” back to Russia and posted a video from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport to keep followers informed of her whereabouts.
In the three-minute video, wearing a white sweatshirt with “Harvard” printed on the front, Ovchinnikova addressed her 23,000 followers and said it was nice to get their support, while also explaining the reason for her absence.
“Well, what a crowd. I understand the news, of course, but I am not only brave, but also smart,” she said, translated from Russian.
‘Do you know where I am now? At home in Moscow. I am very tired after flying for 30 hours with a lot of things to do and a lot of plans that I had already made before. ”
Ovchinnikova claims that she understood New Zealand law and knew exactly what she was doing, that she beat “the b……” and would explain everything in time.