EU Sanctions Xenia Fedorova Over Information Manipulation Activities Attributed to Russia

The Council of the European Union has added Xenia Fedorova, the former president and news director of RT France, to the list of persons sanctioned under the European regime concerning Russia’s destabilising activities. The acts adopted on 24 September freeze her assets under EU jurisdiction and prohibit European individuals and companies from making funds or economic resources available to her. The decision is individual and contains detailed reasoning: the Council attributes to her participation in foreign information manipulation and interference operations intended to undermine democracy and stability in the Union.

In brief

1. On 24 September 2026, the Council adopted Decision (CFSP) 2026/2164 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2165, adding Xenia Fedorova to the sanctions list.

2. The measures provide for the freezing of assets and prohibit making funds, financial assets or economic resources from the EU available to her.

3. The Council states that Fedorova participated in implementing and disseminating RT France’s editorial line and that, after the suspension of RT’s activities in the EU, she continued to promote narratives aligned with the Russian authorities.

4. The European acts explicitly mention her appearances in 2025 on CNews, Europe 1 and Le JDNews and attribute to her narratives concerning the war in Ukraine, European support for Kyiv, NATO and European security.

5. The reasons for the listing are administrative and political findings by the Council within a sanctions regime; they do not constitute a criminal conviction handed down by a court.

Fedorova worked in the RT network for several years. According to the reasoning published in the Official Journal, she joined RT in 2005, headed the Ruptly video agency in Berlin between 2015 and 2017, and then became president and news director of RT France. The Council says that, in this role, she participated in implementing and disseminating the channel’s editorial line, including narratives compatible with those promoted by the Russian authorities in the context of the war against Ukraine.

RT and Sputnik were targeted as early as 2022 by European measures suspending broadcasting activities in the EU, in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The new case does not, however, concern the existence or operation of RT France as such, but rather the personal activity attributed to Fedorova after the suspension. The Council states that she continued to appear in the French media and convey messages to a broad audience concerning the conflict, European policy and NATO.

The legal reasoning goes further than the general wording used in the press release. The acts published in the Official Journal state that Fedorova presented Western and European support for Ukraine as a factor prolonging the war, portrayed Russia as an actor seeking peace and Europe as an actor oriented towards confrontation, called into question established accounts concerning the transfer and illegal deportation of Ukrainian children, and described European and NATO policies as threats to Europe’s security. These formulations appear as the Council’s official reasons for including her in the sanctions regime and must be read as such, not as independent judicial verdicts.

The acts also record that the French authorities publicly identified Fedorova as a person retransmitting disinformation originating from the Kremlin and that, in July 2026, France adopted an expulsion measure against her. This information is reproduced in the European reasoning, but the new listing is neither a decision by France nor an automatic consequence of that measure: the Council applied its own legal criteria laid down by the EU regime concerning Russia’s destabilising activities.

The regime under which Fedorova was included differs from the individual sanctions adopted against those responsible for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity. It was created in October 2024 to allow the sanctioning of persons and entities considered involved in actions by the Russian Federation that threaten the fundamental values, security, stability, independence and integrity of the Union and its Member States, as well as in hybrid activities directed against third countries or international organisations. The framework explicitly covers information manipulation and interference.

The difference matters because the Union uses several sanctions architectures related to Russia, each with distinct criteria and justifications. In Fedorova’s case, the Council is not listing her for ordering or financing a military operation, nor for a generic economic connection with the Russian state, but for what it describes as involvement in actions and policies attributable to the government of the Russian Federation that use information manipulation and interference to undermine democracy and stability.

The concrete effects of the listing are primarily financial. Assets and economic resources belonging to her or controlled by her that fall under European jurisdiction are frozen, and individuals and legal entities in the EU may not make money or other economic resources available to her. The Council’s press release indicates that, with the new decision, the regime concerning Russia’s destabilising activities covers 81 persons and 20 entities.

Listing does not in itself imply a finding of criminal liability. The sanctions regime is an instrument of foreign and security policy, and the persons concerned may challenge the acts before the courts of the Union. From a journalistic perspective, this distinction is essential: statements about Fedorova’s activities must be attributed to the Council and the official documents justifying the sanction, without being turned into independent judicial findings.