By PARIS — Russian TV star Xenia Fedorova on Friday accused French President Emmanuel Macron and his government of censorship, after France ordered her expulsion from the country and moved to freeze her assets earlier in the week.
Fedorova, the former head of the Kremlin-backed RT France news outlet, has repeatedly courted controversy by spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda on French media outlets.
In her first public comments regarding her expulsion order, the 46 year-old accused the French government of using “political pressure” and of “censorship of opinions that do not align with the official narrative.”
“The government of Emmanuel Macron decided that my public comments … represented an immediate danger to the Republic,” she wrote on social media. “My behavior … consists of living in France for nearly ten years in compliance with the law, paying my taxes, but also having an opinion and expressing it as part of my work as a journalist,” she added.
According to the expulsion order seen by daily Libération, Fedorova was accused of “destabilizing public order,” spreading “disinformation” and acting “as a conduit for disinformation campaigns led by the Russian authorities.”
Fedorova headed RT France before it was shut down due to EU sanctions in 2023. She has since become a fixture on right-wing outlets owned by conservative French billionaire Vincent Bolloré — a powerful figure who has been accused of leveraging his media empire to influence French politics.
According to a government decree seen by POLITICO, France froze Fedorova’s assets for a period of six months on Thursday — a decision the pundit said she will appeal.
Fedorova is currently under house arrest and banned from working on French soil, though weak diplomatic ties between Paris and Moscow could make it difficult to deport her.
Originally published on www.politico.eu — View original