Tensions between Xenia Fedorova and the French date back to 2017, when President Emmanuel Macron accused her of spreading "defamatory falsehoods."

Russian commentator Xenia Fedorova has been ordered to leave France, the country’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday. She has been accused of disseminating Kremlin propaganda on French television and radio.

According to French newspaper Liberation, the expulsion order accuses Fedorova of acting “as a conduit for disinformation campaigns orchestrated by the Russian authorities” with the aim of “destabilising public order” in France.

According to the AFP news agency, Fedorova has been placed under house arrest since the order was issued.

Fedorova is the former chief of the Russia Today (RT) in France, which was ultimately banned in the country after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

She stayed in the country and became a commentator for broadcasting outlets owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore’s media conglomerate.

According to French daily Le Monde, Fedorova has been known to be a “protege” of Bollore.

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Experts on disinformation had previously raised the alarm about the influence of figures like Fedorova in France, ahead of a presidential election next year.

Although there is no evidence of any links between Fedorova and the Kremlin, media advocates have said she should still be regarded as an agent of influence.

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  • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
    21·
    3 days ago

    It’s not philosophy but reason. If the state can silence critics without proof then everybody loses.

    She has been accused of disseminating Kremlin propaganda on French television and radio.

    They should at least name the worst disinformation so that it is possible for the population to verify if the state works in good faith.

    Within the war there are several things where the media had to track back. If she pointed those out early on then it looked like propaganda but it would have served the truth and the people.

    The danger from Russia is not bigger than the threat from our own elite. The dishonesty about age verification, US data security and similar things shows that our own elite wants to lock us in. The extreme right and Russia are just the scapegoat to make it happen.