France orders expulsion of former RT France director Ksenia Fedorova over Kremlin propaganda
France's Interior Ministry ordered Russian journalist Ksenia Fedorova, the former director of RT France until 2023, to leave the country on July 29 after concluding she was a 'channel for disinformation' and had systematically spread Kremlin propaganda across French television and radio; President Emmanuel Macron had questioned Fedorova's journalist status as early as 2017
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Summary
France's Interior Ministry ordered Ksenia Fedorova, the former director of RT France, to leave the country on July 29, citing her as a channel for Kremlin disinformation. Fedorova headed RT France until 2023, a year after France banned the channel following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. She continued to appear regularly on French television and radio after the ban. President Emmanuel Macron first questioned her journalist credentials in 2017, and reaffirmed that position in June 2026. The French government cited her systematic spread of pro-Russian narratives across French broadcast media as the basis for the expulsion, which was issued by the Interior Ministry on national-security grounds rather than as a visa violation.
The split
Western European and Ukrainian outlets covered the expulsion as a proportionate and overdue counter-disinformation measure. The Moscow Times, reporting from an exile base, framed it in the context of European-wide restrictions on Kremlin media operatives. South Korean coverage treated it as a European press-freedom precedent with broader implications. RT and Russian state media's coverage of the order was not in the feed.
By the numbers
- 2022, year France banned RT France following Russia's invasion of Ukraine
- 2017, year Macron first publicly questioned Fedorova's journalist status
- 1, expulsion order, issued by France's Interior Ministry on July 29
Why it matters
France's move extends a pattern of European governments using immigration and national-security tools against Kremlin-linked media operatives who remained on EU soil after the 2022 RT ban. It tests France's press-freedom principles, since Fedorova was appearing on French media as a commentator, not as RT staff. The case could set a precedent for how other EU states treat Russian propagandists operating under commercial media cover.
What to watch
- Whether Fedorova challenges the expulsion order in French administrative courts
- Whether other EU member states follow with similar orders against Russian media figures operating domestically
- Russia's formal diplomatic response, if any, and whether it triggers a reciprocal action against French journalists in Russia