At a time when hybrid warfare and Russian interference are under intense scrutiny, the appointment of a former employee of the Kremlin propaganda channel Russia Today (RT) to lead a major French magazine is deeply concerning.
Czech Media Invest (CMI), the publishing group owned by Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský, announced a leadership change at the French weekly Marianne. Natacha Polony, editor-in-chief of Marianne since 2018, will be replaced by journalist Frédéric Taddeï, who is set to assume his role on March 1, 2025. Křetínský’s CMI France also owns Elle, Télé 7 Jours, and Franc-Tireur.
From 2018 to 2022, Frédéric Taddeï hosted a daily show on Russia Today (RT) France, a Kremlin propaganda outlet banned from the Élysée Palace in 2017 and suspended by the European Commission on March 2, 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
When asked by Causeur if he felt uncomfortable being “paid by Putin,” Taddeï responded, “I couldn’t care less who pays me,” showing no qualms about working for a Russian state propaganda outlet. On France Inter, he justified his involvement by stating: “Apparently, in Russian media, you can say anything you want about Vladimir Putin… Anyway, he doesn’t need that, he’s so popular in Russia…” This was September 4, 2018, four years after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
On February 22, 2022, Taddeï announced he was stepping down from his show out of “loyalty to France” after Vladimir Putin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine. However, he clarified that he wasn’t leaving RT entirely, noting, “Xenia Fedorova, the channel’s president, asked me not to make any rash decisions. You never know; things might return to normal,” he mused in an interview with Le Figaro.
Later, during an appearance on C8, Taddeï presented a different version, which he now maintains, claiming he had “left RT before the war in Ukraine began.” In the same interview, as Russian bombs rained down on Ukraine, he lamented: “Leaving RT cost me money.”
Stand With Ukraine expresses deep concern over the appointment of a former star of Moscow’s propaganda media to lead the editorial team at Marianne, a highly regarded weekly with a prominent role in French public debate.
We are also alarmed by the potential consequences of allowing Russian propaganda narratives to infiltrate a major French publication, especially as disinformation campaigns originating from Russia grow more frequent and pervasive.
Furthermore, we question the normalization and rehabilitation of an individual who worked for a Russian propaganda outlet, now seemingly exonerated by their new position at the helm of Marianne.
The appointment of Frédéric Taddeï to lead Marianne is both unacceptable and incomprehensible. It raises serious questions about the political and economic motivations behind this decision, particularly for its owner, Daniel Křetínský. Křetínský’s wealth and business interests are closely tied to Russian fossil fuels, with a significant portion of his income derived from his Eustream gas pipeline, which exports Russian gas to Central Europe. According to an investigation by L’Express, Křetínský’s personal fortune nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023, during the height of the war in Ukraine.
