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How Former RT France Chief Propagandist Xenia Fedorova Was Granted a 10-Year French Residence Permit
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French officials are facing increased scrutiny over the circumstances in which Xenia Fedorova, Russian national and former head of Russian state-owned RT France, and now a columnist for media outlets linked to the Bolloré group, was granted a ten-year residence permit in 2024, according to report by Le Monde on June 1 .
The case has raised questions at the highest levels of the French state, with officials providing differing accounts of how the long-term residence card was issued to the Russian national, whose professional activities and public statements have repeatedly drawn criticism from government figures.
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To explain the decision, Gérald Darmanin’s then-ministry of the interior entourage described the residence permit as having been issued through an “automatic” procedure. Laurent Nuñez, who was Paris police prefect at the time, told Le Monde that it amounted to a “renewal as of right.”
Fedorova’s presence in France dates back to 2017, when she launched RT France after being sent to Paris by Margarita Simonyan, head of RT in Moscow and a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. She obtained a “passeport talent” residence permit, a scheme intended for highly qualified professionals, which enabled her to lead the channel’s French branch.
Shortly after being granted her “talent passport” press accreditation, a tense exchange took place at the Palace of Versailles during a joint press conference between French President Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin. Accredited within the Russian leader’s official delegation, Fedorova, speaking in Russian, complained that she had been denied access to Emmanuel Macron’s campaign headquarters.
Responding in front of Vladimir Putin, the French president said: “I have always had exemplary relations with foreign journalists, provided they are truly journalists.” He continued: “When media outlets spread defamatory falsehoods, they are no longer journalists; they are instruments of influence,” according to Le Monde.
Emmanuel Macron further rejected her complaint, stating: “I will not concede anything to that, nothing. Russia Today and Sputnik (…) acted as instruments of influence, propaganda and false propaganda.”
Yet, in 2021, she was granted a four-year multi-year residence permit by the Paris Police Prefecture. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, RT was banned from broadcasting in the European Union for what authorities described as “continuous and coordinated propaganda actions” that “directly and seriously threaten public order and security.”
In 2024, Fedorova applied to renew her residence status, despite stricter rules introduced by the French Interior Ministry for foreign nationals considered a potential threat to public order. That year, authorities rejected more than 4,600 applications and withdrew 2,255 residence permits on such grounds. Nevertheless, she was granted a ten-year residence card.
The decision has sparked questions across government departments, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Interior Ministry, over the administrative pathway through which the permit was approved—typically reserved for long-term residents with established family or professional ties in France.
According to Laurent Nuñez, “This renewal was automatic.” He said the procedure followed standard administrative channels within the Paris Police Prefecture and remained “purely administrative,” without ministerial involvement. The entourage of Gérald Darmanin also described the renewal as “automatic.”
Following the publication of the existence of the ten-year permit in March 2025, internal verification procedures were launched within the prefecture. However, no full review of the case has been initiated.
Months earlier, the Financial Times has included Margarita Simonyan in its list of the most influential people for 2025. According to the publication, Simonyan was featured in the “Leaders” category.
Julia Ioffe, an American journalist of Russian origin, described her as the “most fiercely loyal messenger” and a “Valkyrie of propaganda.”
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