France moves to expel pro-Kremlin TV commentator as presidential election looms

PARIS - France on July 29 ordered controversial Russian commentator Xenia Fedorova to leave the country, the interior ministry said, after accusations she was churning out Kremlin propaganda on French television and radio.Disinformation experts have raised the alarm about the influence of the former journalist for Russia’s state-run channel RT, as France heads for a presidential election in 2027.Fedorova’s lawyer defended her work as a “proper” journalist and said she would appeal.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.Fedorova’s lawyer Emmanuel Piwnica told AFP his client would “immediately file an appeal”.“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.”RT France was shut down in 2023, a year after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.But Fedorova remained, becoming a commentator for outlets within conservative billionaire Vincent Bollore’s media empire.She regularly appears on the CNews television channel and Europe 1 radio, and writes for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, spreading Kremlin talking points about Ukraine and the West. AFP