Fact check: Macron, Merz and Starmer targeted by Russian 'cocaine' claims
The allegations that the leaders of France, Germany and the UK took drugs while on a train on their way to Kyiv are part of a wider Russian disinformation campaign.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/12/fact-check-macron-merz-and-starmer-targeted-by-russian-cocaine-claims
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The allegations that the leaders of France, Germany and the UK took drugs while on a train on their way to Kyiv are part of a wider Russian disinformation campaign.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/12/fact-check-macron-merz-and-starmer-targeted-by-russian-cocaine-claims
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00Macron, Mertz and Starmer targeted by Russian cocaine claims.
00:09Viral social media posts are alleging that French President Emmanuel Macron,
00:13German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
00:17were caught taking cocaine on their trip to Kyiv.
00:20At the centre of the claims is this video,
00:22showing the three leaders greeting one another on a train from Poland to Ukraine,
00:26ahead of a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky to reaffirm their support for his country.
00:31Social media users allege that the white object next to Macron's glass is a bag of cocaine,
00:36which he hurriedly removes, and that the object next to Mertz's hand is a snuff spoon.
00:41The claims have also come from the highest echelons of Russia's government,
00:45with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posting on her official Telegram channel
00:50that the trio got high together.
00:52But they have all the hallmarks of being part of a widespread Russian disinformation campaign
00:57designed to harm Ukraine and its allies' credibility.
01:00The Elysee Palace stated on Ex that the alleged bag of cocaine is a mere tissue
01:05and that the fake news has been spread by France's enemies at home and abroad.
01:10Indeed, it's been shared all over the internet by pro-Russian accounts and media,
01:14and has even been pushed by far-right figures who are routinely critical of Ukraine.
01:19The objects causing the controversy clearly look like a tissue and some sort of stirrer,
01:24as opposed to anything related to drugs, and that's what substance use researchers told Euroverify too.
01:30A clip of the meeting was recorded and shared by both the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse,
01:35two reputable news agencies which made no reference to any drug use,
01:40and which surely wouldn't have been allowed in the room had anything untoward been going on.
01:44Other accounts have since been sharing doctored images, trying to make the tissue look more like a bag of cocaine,
01:50but these too are ultimately part of the disinformation campaign.
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