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Renew Europe is calling for individual sanctions against Xenia Fedorova, the former head of RT France, in a letter backed by a third of the group, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
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The text accuses the Russian commentator, who regularly appears on channels inside French media mogul Vincent Bolloré’s empire, of spreading Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine and the EU.
Fedorova joined the ranks of the Bolloré group after RT France was shut down in March 2022, a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
She appears on Wednesdays and Sundays on the programme “L’Heure Inter” on CNews, hosts a weekly slot on JDNews, and presents the show “Lumières orthodoxes” on CNews and CStar.
She also published her book Bannie under the Bolloré group’s Fayard publishing house in 2025 In the book, Fedorova accuses the French authorities of seeking to “gag” her and laments that the war in Ukraine is presented as Russian aggression.
Speaking to France Inter in May, French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said: “Ms Fedorova is a fully fledged propagandist who relays the Kremlin’s disinformation”.
“Everyone is free to choose their editorial line, but giving this woman airtime and column inches is simply serving Vladimir Putin’s propaganda,” he added.
French MEP Nathalie Loiseau is behind the new letter urging sanctions on the presenter, which was addressed to the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
A growing controversy
Fedorova’s appearances are particularly riling critics at a time when Paris is working to show its commitment to tackling disinformation.
According to the newspaper Le Monde, the Quai d’Orsay has been keeping a close eye on the commentator. An internal note from the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs details how Fedorova’s positions line up with the Kremlin’s official narratives on Ukraine, NATO and Europe.
The broadcasting watchdog, the Audiovisual and Digital Communications Regulatory Authority (Arcom), also has a file on Fedorova. Arcom received two complaints in May over the “lack of honesty and rigour in the information” she provided, both relating to comments made on CNews.
The first concerns her remarks on 9 May, “falsely accusing Latvia of glorifying Nazism”. The second relates to a piece of disinformation about the war in Ukraine: “We now know that it is the West which decided to prolong these conflicts. That also explains why the European Union continues with this narrative,” she said on 10 May.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon condemned Fedorova’s “very serious remarks,” which “completely turn the burden of proof on its head regarding who is responsible, Russia or Ukraine.”
Fedorova has come under particular scrutiny following two investigations published in Le Monde. The first sets out her growing influence within the Bolloré media empire, while the second reveals that her French residence permit was renewed in 2024, after the closure of RT France. The Interior Ministry defends this as a “renewal as of right”.
