Overview
- France 2 aired a pre-recorded 10-minute Lavrov interview in its 8 p.m. newscast on Thursday, with a one-hour version posted online that drew 3.4 million TV viewers.
- Researchers and media analysts said the exchange let the Russian foreign minister repeat Kremlin talking points, faulting weak follow-up on Bucha, Mariupol and Izyum.
- Ukraine’s ambassador in Paris called the slot a platform for a “war criminal,” and France’s foreign minister said Lavrov “rolled out his propaganda.”
- France Télévisions said Russia required that the full interview be shown and its editors argued the questions cited strikes on schools and hospitals and thousands of civilian deaths.
- The dispute unfolds during a parliamentary inquiry into the public broadcaster’s neutrality, after a January change in its news leadership.