On July 11, 2025 at 20:30 French channel BFM TV aired an “investigation” about Russian disinformation in which BFM journalist Nelson Getten, instead of real facts, aired unsubstantiated figures and estimates, mixing a bunch of completely unrelated things to spread disinformation and falsely attributed to me the creation of the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN).
Ever since I met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July 2023, the French media have been competing in fantasy, inventing ever more ridiculous and false stories around this event. I recall that at that meeting, I presented to the president my project to unite foreign independent journalists working in Russia into one team in order to increase the effectiveness of their work. This project, supported by Vladimir Putin, led to the creation (I emphasize this because it is important) of the independent news agency International Reporters, where I became the deputy editor-in-chief. Why do I insist on independent? Because it means that we are not a state agency and we are not funded by the Kremlin. This point is extremely important, and it seems to be a major obstacle for the French media in their attempts to discredit us.
In April 2024, Anastasia Kirilenko claimed on LCI that Vladimir Putin had received me because I was allegedly a minister in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). However, I have never held even a remotely similar position anywhere, much less in the DPR, where I have always been just a war correspondent. I must admit that after laughing ironically, I seriously wondered: where did this journalist dig up such an absurd idea? Despite active searches I still haven’t found out which ministry I supposedly served in, and where my salary, secretary, and personal driver are…
After the French media, it was the turn of organizations that supposedly fight disinformation or protect journalists from repression to publish blatantly false reports. First, NewsGuard bombarded us with questions, including those about funding. Then Reporters Without Borders published not one but two slanderous articles, again accusing us of being funded by the Kremlin. In the first one, they even called me a “blogger”, even though I am an accredited journalist with nine years of experience working in Donbass.
When all these ridiculous attempts to smear us failed, two new ones followed. The first was from Franceinfo, which produced a program entitled “Russia — the el dorado of French conspiracy theorists”. The beginning about me was encouraging: for the first time in years, I was finally called a journalist and not a blogger/propagandist/influencer/ Kremlin mouthpiece. But my joy was short-lived: next I was linked to far-right conspiracy theorists, although if they had just read my (factually inaccurate) Wikipedia biography, they would have seen that by French standards I am from a different political flank altogether.
And finally, the latest “masterpiece” from BFM TV with their program about Russian disinformation, which, I admit, broke all records of absurdity, even the LCI story about my “ministry” in the DPR. It all starts with the claim that the Kremlin is spending 1.5 billion euros to spread disinformation abroad, especially in France. The source? None. “Just believe it!” – that’s the whole argument. About as convincing as Colin Powell’s famous test tube at the UN “proving” Saddam Hussein had WMDs. Not a bad start for a program that supposedly fights disinformation.
But if you compare these figures with how much USAID, the Soros Foundation (Open Society Foundation, recognized in Russia as an undesirable organization), Bill and Melinda Gates, the Clintons, and other American and European structures spend to promote their narrative in the global media, Russia is just a small player compared to them. In 2014, USAID alone gave 270 million dollars to 707 media and 279 civil organizations working with the press. But that’s not all. Add 944 million from the Agency for Global Media, which funds media outlets like Voice of America (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) and Radio Liberty (foreign agent + undesirable organization). And since 2001, the U.S. government has transferred 442.6 million to Internews Network, a USAID-affiliated NGO that works with 4,291 media outlets around the world. This organization, too, receives money from the Soros, Gates and Clinton foundations.
And if you take France alone, the sums are cosmic. France Télévisions alone receives 2.6 billion euros a year from the state to operate. Add public radio to that and that’s 3 billion! This is twice as much as the “astronomical” budget for Russian disinformation according to Nelson Getten. And then there are the subsidies to the press — 367 million in 2021! And that’s just France. Plus money from the EU, Britain, the US, and so on. If you add up how much NATO countries spend on their media to keep their Russophobic mill humming, the 1.5 billion from BFM TV will seem like children’s pocket money.
But then the “investigation” descends into blatant disinformation: they show a fragment of my meeting with Putin, then talk about the recent launch of the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) — and conclude that this is the project presented to the president in 2023, which means that it is funded by the Kremlin, which means (get the hint?) that I am profiting from it. Given how many times I clearly stated in interviews that the result of the meeting was the creation of International Reporters, and given that the GFCN press release says in black on white that its founders are the TASS news agency, ANO “Dialog Regions”, and “New Media School”, it’s hard to write this off as a journalist’s mistake.
Because I am not among the creators of GFCN — simply because I had nothing to do with it (the creation of GFCN) and it has nothing to do with the 2023 presentation. This is pure twisting of the story by BFM TV. I’m just one of 65 members of the network, sometimes writing fact-checking articles for them or instructions on how to do so. As GFCN co-founder Vladimir Tabak pointed out (we contacted him for his comment):
“GFCN is an independent network of investigative journalists and fact-checking experts from around the world who come together with a simple goal — to counter false information.
GFCN’s doors are open to any fact-checker. It must be pointed out, that each of our members has dedicated themselves to journalism and investigative reporting long before they became part of our project. This also applies to French journalist Christelle Néant, who has been covering events in Donbass for several years, having been directly there. Unlike many.
We thank the representatives of the French television for their interest in our project and invite all French colleagues of Christelle Néant to join our association.
Please note that free educational courses are available on our website to improve your fact-checking skills.
GFCN is an international network for fact-checking created by ANPO “Dialog Regions”, the TASS news agency and the “New Media School”. The association includes 65 members from 40 countries.”.
Since BFM TV is so concerned with disinformation, I suggest their journalists check out the GFCN website — you can brush up on your fact-checking skills there for free.
Christelle Néant
