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🇱🇹 Lithuania /Elections & Politics

French minister horrified as national media publish articles by Kremlin propagandist

From Delfi · () Lithuanian

Translated from Lithuanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot criticized the publication of two articles by Ksenia Fyodorova after France ordered her to leave the country for spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda.
  • Fyodorova denies fleeing France and says returning after the expulsion order took effect could have exposed her to arrest and a prison sentence.
  • The case has drawn attention to the role of Vincent Bolloré’s media group ahead of France’s 2027 presidential election.

France’s foreign minister says he is “very surprised” and “quite horrified” that major French media outlets have reopened their pages and studios to Ksenia Fyodorova, a commentator the government calls a Kremlin propagandist.

I am very surprised and, I have to say, quite horrified to see how major media groups, whose editorial freedom is sacred, open their publications or studios to someone whom all of this country’s political forces agree was rightly expelled in light of the established facts.

· Jean-Noël BarrotFrance’s foreign minister criticized media outlets for publishing Fyodorova’s work and offering her airtime.

Fyodorova, 45, officially lost her appeal against a French court decision ordering her to leave the country for spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda. She left France in August, but the right-wing newspaper Journal du Dimanche, known as JDD, has published two articles under her name in recent weeks. CNews has also said she will soon appear on air again.

Both outlets belong to the media group owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who is viewed as an influential behind-the-scenes figure ahead of the 2027 French presidential election. Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, is considered one of the leading contenders.

A Kremlin propagandist

· Jean-Noël BarrotBarrot’s description of Ksenia Fyodorova.

Speaking to France Inter, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called Fyodorova “a Kremlin propagandist” and said she was “not a journalist, but an influence agent serving Russia.” He questioned why the media should give airtime to someone who, he said, “serves Russia and acts against France and the European Union.”

Not a journalist, but an influence agent serving Russia

· Jean-Noël BarrotBarrot rejected Fyodorova’s status as a journalist.

CNews presenter Gauthier Le Bret said Fyodorova could take part in programs from outside France and “could return very quickly,” without giving a date. Fyodorova has called the accusations censorship. She said she had already been abroad on vacation when the expulsion order took effect and therefore had never physically been expelled from France. JDD published one article praising Paris’s Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral and another rejecting a Le Monde report about her disappearance as disinformation.

I was already abroad, on vacation. So I did not flee France.

· Ksenia FyodorovaFyodorova disputed reports that she had secretly fled the country.
About this summary

Originally published by Delfi in Lithuanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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