France to expel pro-Kremlin media commentator Xenia Fedorova

Xenia Fedorov's lawyer, Emmanuel Piwnica, was served with a ministerial deportation order today, 29 July.

The lawyer defended her work as a "proper" journalist and said she would immediately appeal the order.

"Xenia Fedorova is a journalist," he said. "This decision is a serious infringement of the freedom of expression of a journalist who has always carried out her work in the most proper manner possible."

The Russian media personality regularly appears on the CNews television channel, Europe 1 radio and writes a column for Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), belonging to Vincent Bollore's media group, spreading Kremlin talking points about Ukraine and the West.

The former head of Russia Today (RT) France has been living and working in France for ten years.

Disinformation experts have raised the alarm about the influence of Fedorov, the former journalist and head of Russia's state-run channel RT, as France heads for a presidential election next year. 

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French newspaper Liberation cited the expulsion order as accusing her of acting "as a conduit for disinformation campaigns orchestrated by the Russian authorities" with the aim of "destabilising public order" in France.

France believes that the polemicist “aimed at manipulating public opinion” and “undermining the trust of European citizens, and in particular French citizens, in their institutions,” the decree continues.  

RT France was shut down in 2023, a year after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But Fedorova remained, securing a role as a commentator for outlets within conservative billionaire Bollore's media empire.

Elsewhere in Europe, Xenia Fedorova is already banned from entering Germany, a source close to the matter told AFP.

 (AFP)