Russian TV commentator Xenia Fedorova with Kremlin message sparks alarm in France

PARIS – The soft-spoken commentator delivered her views in fluent, Russian-accented French, as she appeared this week on one of France’s most influential television channels.

“Russia is capable of helping the French economy,” Ms Xenia Fedorova said on the rolling news channel CNews, insisting it would be “mandatory” for French President Emmanuel Macron’s successor in 2027 to maintain good relations with Moscow.

Ms Fedorova is the former head of the French arm of the Russian state-run channel RT, which was banned in France after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

While RT France was shut down in 2023, Ms Fedorova did not disappear from public view.

Instead, she has gained an even wider audience in France, securing a coveted role as a commentator for outlets within conservative billionaire Vincent Bollore’s media empire.

The 45-year-old appears regularly on CNews and Europe 1 and writes a column for Le Journal du Dimanche, spreading Kremlin talking points about Ukraine and the West.

As France is heading into one of its most consequential elections, the authorities, disinformation experts and journalists in mainstream media are increasingly worried about Ms Fedorova’s message.

France prides itself on freedom of speech, and Ms Fedorova’s trajectory captures a contradiction at the heart of the media landscape, where legal freedoms clash with fears of foreign propaganda.

While the authorities express frustration with the commentator’s pro-Kremlin line, there is little they can do.

‘Putin’s bidding’

“Everyone is free to choose their own editorial line,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on May 29.

“But opening up your airwaves and columns to this woman is simply doing Vladimir Putin’s bidding,” he said, however, adding his hands were tied.

“In a democracy, one can spread lies without being sent to a gulag.”

Ms Valerie Hayer, leader of the Renew group in the European Parliament, said on social media platform X in May that she had filed a complaint with media regulator Arcom.

Freedom of expression cannot justify normalising “the systematic repetition of the talking points of a foreign state propaganda apparatus subject to European sanctions”, she wrote.

Commentator Patrick Cohen said Ms Fedorova’s case raised tough questions.

“On what basis can one distinguish between what constitutes propaganda and what counts as a legitimate opinion?“ he said.

On May 29, Mr Maxime Saada, chief executive of Mr Bollore’s Canal+, defended Ms Fedorova when a shareholder questioned him at the media group’s general meeting.

“I don’t believe one can speak of a Russian agent,” he said. “Journalist, yes – agent, no.”

He said CNews would keep offering different viewpoints.

Ms Fedorova did not wish to comment without a guarantee that AFP would publish her remarks in full, a request that was declined in accordance with AFP practices and guidelines.

In her book, Bannie (“Banned”) published in 2025, she portrays herself as a victim of state censorship.

Le Monde has dubbed Ms Fedorova “the Kremlin’s most influential propagandist in France.”

This week the daily threw the spotlight on her ties to Mr Bollore, saying a think-tank founded by the tycoon recently organised a lunch to discuss the 2027 presidential election.

Ms Fedorova was in attendance, along with Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard and an adviser to far-right leader Jordan Bardella.

A member of Ms Genevard’s team told AFP the minister had not been informed of Ms Fedorova’s presence and would not have attended otherwise.

‘Agent of influence’

While there is no evidence of any links between Ms Fedorova and the Kremlin, she should be regarded as “an agent of influence”, said Dr Julien Nocetti of the French Institute of International Relations.

Mr Bollore might see the Russian as a useful tool as he seeks to shape France’s mediascape, said the researcher who studies Kremlin propaganda.

“Without necessarily fully aligning with everything she says, she is an element that is very useful to him in shaking up a media, political and possibly business ecosystem.”

Former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested Putin’s invasion during a live broadcast and has since found refuge in France, said giving Ms Fedorova a platform was dangerous and did not rule out that she still maintained ties to RT.

“What I fled from in Russia has now reached France,” she told AFP.

“I am now watching in horror all these far-right sentiments intensify here.”

The authorities extended Ms Fedorova’s residence permit by 10 years in 2024, when Mr Gerald Darmanin, now the justice minister, was serving as interior minister. Both ministries declined to comment.

Several groups plan to stage a protest next week, demanding the Interior Ministry strip the Russian of her residence permit.

Dr Nocetti said the fact that Ms Fedorova’s right to stay had been extended was “quite astonishing”.

“It is unclear how this decision was made or who is responsible for it.” AFP