On Wednesday evening, Russian authorities announced that they had declared French MPs Sacha Houlié and Arthur Delaporte, as well as journalists Ariane Chemin and Paul Gogo, persona non grata, a measure taken in response to the expulsion of pro-Kremlin columnist Xenia Fedorova.
The decision against these four individuals was taken “because of their participation in harassing Fedorova and their calls for her expulsion,” explained Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, at a briefing.
The Russian diplomacy did not quote the remarks of the French lawmakers and journalists it accuses.
The newspapers Le Monde, where Ariane Chemin works, and Ouest-France, the regional daily with which Paul Gogo collaborates, condemned an obstruction to freedom of information, and the two deputies a “political sanction.”
In recent months, Ariane Chemin has co-signed several articles about Xenia Fedorova.
Paul Gogo is a journalist for several media outlets and the author of a book published this year entitled “Moscow Paranoid: Putin’s Russia Unveiled.”
A political sanction !
Sacha Houlié, a Socialist Democrat deputy in the National Assembly, and Arthur Delaporte, a member of the Socialist Party, for their part denounced a “political sanction.”
These two deputies had called for Xenia Fedorova’s residence permit to be withdrawn, accusing her of propagating Russian propaganda.
A columnist in the media owned by the conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, Xenia Fedorova has since late July been subject to expulsion orders and asset freezes in France because of her propaganda in favor of Moscow.
This 45-year-old Russian, who had resided in France for nearly ten years, was reportedly abroad when the French government issued the expulsion order, according to her statements.
In September, the European Union froze the columnist’s assets and barred her from traveling within the EU.
The Kremlin sees in these measures “persecution of a representative of the media.”
Blacklist
Russia has long used travel bans against French nationals as a form of diplomatic retaliation against Western sanctions.
Following the annexation of Crimea and the first EU sanctions in 2014, Russians transmitted to European chancelleries a list of 89 individuals banned from staying.
Four French nationals were on it: philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, former European Parliament member Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the former president of the Socialist Group in the National Assembly Bruno Le Roux, and the former president of the European Economic and Social Committee Henri Malosse.
Beyond formal bans, correspondents and special envoys of French media have had their visas or accreditations not renewed since 2022, effectively forcing them to leave Russia.
The official recommendation from the Quai d’Orsay for individuals is unequivocal: any travel to Russia is formally discouraged. Paris regularly denounces Moscow’s assaults on press freedom.
