Xenia Fedorova articles anger France after expulsion

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot criticised French media outlets for continuing to publish or host Russian commentator Xenia Fedorova after her expulsion from France.

Fedorova, 45, was formally expelled in August after losing an appeal against a court ruling that ordered her to leave for spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda. The Journal du Dimanche has published two articles under her name in recent weeks, and CNews anchor Gauthier Le Bret said she could return to the channel from outside France.

Barrot told France Inter radio he was “dismayed” that major media groups were giving space to someone he described as a Kremlin propagandist and an “agent of interference” serving Russia.

Fedorova denies the accusations and has described them as censorship. She said she was already abroad on holiday when the measure took effect and did not flee France. In a Tuesday article in the Journal du Dimanche, she wrote that returning would mean violating the measure and exposing herself to arrest and a possible prison sentence.

Le Monde had described her absence as a mystery in an article about what it called her highly political “escape”. Fedorova called that article disinformation.