French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday denounced what it called the "disguised expulsion" of its Moscow correspondent Benjamin Quenelle after his press accreditation was revoked.After four months of suspension, Quenelle's press card was "canceled" by the Russian authorities, the newspaper said."This revocation of our right to practice our profession is without precedent," Le Monde's editorial director Jerome Fenoglio wrote in a column written in both French and Russian.
"This arbitrary decision constitutes a new obstacle to the freedom of the press in the country.""Even in the tensest moments of the Cold War, Le Monde pursued its work in Moscow and beyond," Fenoglio added.Russia's Foreign Ministry said Quenelle's press credentials were not renewed in retaliation for France's refusal to issue press visas to journalists from the tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.Paris had accused the Russian journalists of being "agents of the Russian intelligence services."