Russia has blacklisted two French lawmakers and two French journalists in response to France's expulsion of a pro-Kremlin media network commentator earlier this year.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that lawmakers Sacha Houlié and Arthur Delaporte would be banned from entering Russia, along with journalists Paul Gogo and Ariane Chemin. Zakharova said the ban was for the alleged "harassment" of Xenia Fedorova, the head of RT France from 2017 to 2023.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described Fedorova as an "agent of influence" and expelled her in July. Ordering her expulsion, France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had accused her of relaying Russian propaganda in an attempt to attack "the fundamental interests of the nation." Fedorova, who wrote for right-wing French media, slammed "censorship" against her, while Moscow for months pledged to retaliate against what it called "persecution." She has been under European Union sanctions since September 24.
In a post on X, French lawmaker Sacha Houlié said: "What is intended as a sanction strikes me as recognition of my work against foreign interference in France." He cited his report for the Parliamentary Intelligence Delegation, the law aimed at preventing interference that he passed in 2024, and "securing the expulsion of the Russian agent Fedorova."
Moscow has long bristled against European restrictions on its state-backed media and journalists, who Brussels and many countries in the European Union have slammed as Kremlin mouthpieces. Russia has banned dozens of Western journalists and lawmakers from entering the country since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
