The European Union will approve more sanctions against Russia on Monday, France’s Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said on Thursday.
“On Monday, we will take new sanctions against Russia, on 150 additional entities, 50 banks and it’s France which proposed the bulk of the entities to add,” Haddad told LCI television.
“We will continue to put economic pressure on Russia and of course support Ukraine,” he added.
Haddad also condemned Russia’s decision on Wednesday to ban Le Monde newspaper reporter Ariane Chemin, freelance journalist and former Moscow correspondent Paul Gogo, as well as two French lawmakers, Sacha Houlie and Arthur Delaporte, from entering Russia.
“This is intimidation. France will not be intimidated. I think these lawmakers and these journalists are doing their jobs, these lawmakers are notably very involved in the fight against foreign interference,” Haddad said.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said earlier on X that the fact the Kremlin was presenting the ban as a response to the expulsion from France in July of alleged Russian propagandist Xenia Fedorova “confirmed her ties to Russian authorities”.
Fedorova, the former chief of RT France who had become a prominent figure on the rolling news channel CNews and associated outlets Europe 1 and JDNews — all belonging to conservative tycoon Vincent Bollore — was accused by French authorities of spreading Russian misinformation.
