PARIS: Condemning “fake news” and accusing Russia of seeking to undermine efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, France has slammed false claims on social media that European leaders including President Emmanuel Macron were seen taking drugs on a train.

The accusation was made widely on X by figures such as the US radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, but then also propagated by Russian officials, including foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

They shared actual footage of Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meeting in a compartment on their train to Kyiv, heading to talks on Saturday with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. As Merz and Starmer arrive in the compartment, Macron is seen removing a white tissue from the table. The accounts claimed, without any evidence, that the white object contained cocaine. Pictures taken inside the train and other media showed that the white object was a crumpled tissue.

The controversy comes after repeated French warnings over Russian disinformation campaigns in Europe that have grown in intensity during Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

“When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs,” the Elysee said in a statement on its own X account.

“This fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation,” it added.

Posting a photo that zoomed in on the white object in question, the Elysee said: “This is a tissue for blowing your nose.”

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2025