In July 2026, Xenia Fedorova, a former head of the French branch of Russia Today (RT) and a commentator for the Bolloré media group, was ordered to leave France. The French government accused her of spreading propaganda on behalf of the Russian government, particularly regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. Fedorova, however, has defended herself by claiming that she is a victim of a "single thought" imposed by Western media, which she says dominates global narratives and suppresses alternative viewpoints. She had been a regular commentator on several Bolloré-owned platforms, including CNews, Europe 1, and JDNews, where she often defended Russia’s actions in Ukraine, sometimes denying or downplaying the Russian invasion and the documented abductions of Ukrainian children by Russian forces. At the end of July 2026, Fedorova became the target of an official expulsion order after French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez accused her of acting as a "relay" for disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Russian authorities. Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called her a "patented propagandist." Fedorova contested the decision and filed appeals, but they were ultimately rejected. She has since framed herself as a voice being suppressed by French media, a narrative that mirrors the title of her 2025 book, published by Fayard, a publishing house owned by Vincent Bolloré. Fedorova's approach involves presenting Russian state narratives without critical analysis, portraying RT as a "counter-hegemonic" and "alternative" media outlet in contrast to what she describes as the dominant Western narrative. This dominant narrative, which acknowledges Russian aggression and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories based on multiple credible sources, is not directly addressed by Fedorova. Instead, she recharacterizes it as an institutional, "dominant" narrative that is inherently suspect. By positioning herself as an outsider being silenced, she aims to reframe the debate around her statements. This strategy is not unique to Fedorova but is part of a broader pattern in political communication, rooted in a concept known as "epistemic vigilance." According to research by scholars like Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier, people naturally question both the content of a message and the credibility of its source, especially when that source appears powerful or manipulative. This built-in skepticism can be beneficial, helping people avoid being deceived. However, it can also be exploited to discredit legitimate information, particularly when a source is labeled as part of a "single thought" or a conspiracy. Fedorova's rhetoric plays on this by discrediting the Western perspective on Ukraine, while simultaneously avoiding similar scrutiny of the Russian state, which is the aggressor in the conflict. This tactic is not new—Russian state media, including RT, has long used conspiracy theories to delegitimize Western narratives, portraying them as tools of an unseen, controlling power. Scholars like Ilya Yablokov have noted this strategy since at least 2015. Meanwhile, researchers Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews have described a broader Russian disinformation strategy known as the "firehose of falsehood," in which a large volume of false or inconsistent information is spread across multiple platforms to create widespread doubt about the possibility of knowing the truth. The goal is not always to convince people of a specific alternative version of events but to erode trust in all information, making rational debate based on shared facts increasingly difficult.