MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday said the expulsion of BBC reporter Sarah Rainsford was “retaliation” for London denying accreditation to an unnamed Russian reporter and had nothing to do with Moscow’s alleged bid to muzzle the media.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “the saga goes back” to summer 2019, when a Russian reporter had to leave the UK for visa reasons “without explanation.”
Zakharova added: “I will say this again: the Russian move is exclusively retaliation. It has nothing to with freedom of speech.”
In a statement on Facebook, Zakharova accused the UK of “turning the affair on its head” and the BBC of peddling propaganda.
The BBC accused Russia of a “direct assault on media freedom” by expelling its journalist.
Rainsford said earlier on Saturday that she was told by Russian authorities she “can’t ever come back to Russia.”
Zakharova said this was untrue and that Rainsford will be given a visa after the Russian reporter is allowed back into the UK. She did not name the Russian reporter or the media organization behind the journalist.
Rainsford, one of the BBC’s long-serving Moscow correspondents, was told she would have to leave the country when her current visa expires in August.
The move comes at a time of simmering tensions between Russia and the West and a crackdown on independent media.
“This is not a failure to renew my visa, although technically that’s kind of what it is. I’m being expelled,,” Rainsford told BBC Radio 4 Saturday.
Two days before the expulsion was announced, Rainsford asked Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko — Belarus’s strongman leader — about a violent crackdown on protesters in Minsk.
Lukashenko then accused her of being backed by the United States in an unprecedented speech against the BBC.
Moscow denies BBC reporter’s expulsion is media crackdown
https://arab.news/mf97m
Moscow denies BBC reporter’s expulsion is media crackdown
- Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the UK of “turning the affair on its head” and the BBC of peddling propaganda
- The BBC accused Russia of a “direct assault on media freedom” by expelling its journalist
Paris exhibition marks 200 years of Le Figaro and the enduring power of the press
- The exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive
PARIS: One of France’s most influential newspapers marked a major milestone this month with a landmark exhibition beneath the soaring glass nave of the Grand Palais, tracing two centuries of journalism, literature and political debate.
Titled 1826–2026: 200 years of freedom, the exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive. Held over three days in mid-January, the free exhibition drew large crowds eager to explore how the title has both chronicled and shaped modern French history.
More than 300 original items were displayed, including historic front pages, photographs, illustrations and handwritten manuscripts. Together, they charted Le Figaro’s evolution from a 19th-century satirical publication into a leading national daily, reflecting eras of revolution, war, cultural change and technological disruption.
The exhibition unfolded across a series of thematic spaces, guiding visitors through defining moments in the paper’s past — from its literary golden age to its role in political debate and its transition into the digital era. Particular attention was paid to the newspaper’s long association with prominent writers and intellectuals, underscoring the close relationship between journalism and cultural life in France.
Beyond the displays, the program extended into live journalism. Public editorial meetings, panel discussions and film screenings invited audiences to engage directly with editors, writers and media figures, turning the exhibition into a forum for debate about the future of the press and freedom of expression.
Hosted at the Grand Palais, the setting itself reinforced the exhibition’s ambition: to place journalism firmly within the country’s cultural heritage. While the exhibition has now concluded, the bicentennial celebrations continue through special publications and broadcasts, reaffirming Le Figaro’s place in France’s public life — and the enduring relevance of a free and questioning press in an age of rapid change.
