Macron, Merz and Starmer targeted by Russian 'cocaine' claims

Euronews

12-05-2025

Viral social media posts are alleging that French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were caught taking cocaine on their trip to Kyiv.
At the centre of the claims is this video, showing the three leaders greeting one another on a train from Poland to Ukraine, ahead of a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to reaffirm their support for his country.
Social media users allege that the white object next to Macron's glass is a bag of cocaine, which he hurriedly removes, and that the object next to Merz's hand is a snuff spoon.
The claims have also come from the highest echelons of Russia's government, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posting on her official Telegram channel that the trio "got high" together.
"Apparently, so much so that they forgot to remove their instruments (bag and spoon) before the journalists arrived," she alleged.
But the allegations have all the hallmarks of being part of a widespread Russian disinformation campaign designed to harm Ukraine and its allies' credibility.
The Élysée Palace stated on X that the alleged bag of cocaine is a mere tissue, and that the "fake news" has been spread by France's enemies at home and abroad.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the president's office said.
A spokesperson for the German government told EuroVerify that the claims were "absurd", and Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation slammed them as an embarrassing case of Russian propaganda.
"Adding to the absurdity, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs joined the disinformation effort, with its official spokesperson Maria Zakharova publicly echoing the lie," it said. "This is yet another example of how Russia resorts to propaganda tricks instead of practising diplomacy."
"If the Russian MFA is trying to blow up an international scandal over a napkin, it clearly means Moscow has run out of real arguments," it added.
Indeed, the allegations have been shared all over the internet by pro-Russian accounts, dozens of pro-Kremlin media and have even been pushed by far-right figures who are routinely critical of Ukraine and spread disinformation.
A website called "Global Euronews", which bears a similar name to Euronews in an effort to legitimise its misinformation, shared the story, as have others, such as EurAsia Daily and Pravda.Ru.
Among the far-right personalities amplifying the false narrative are UK anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson (also known by his real name, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) and US radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who now also claim that the mainstream media is trying to cover up the story.
Yet the objects causing the controversy clearly look like a tissue and some sort of stirrer, as opposed to anything related to drugs.
"It looks like a tissue or napkin and a bit of thread," Catriona Matheson, professor of substance use at the University of Stirling, told EuroVerify. "There's no evidence of cocaine."
A clip of the meeting was recorded and shared by both the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, two reputable news agencies, which made no reference to any drug use, and which surely wouldn't have been allowed in the room had anything untoward been going on.
Other accounts have since been sharing doctored images, trying to make the tissue look more like a bag of cocaine, but these too are ultimately part of the disinformation campaign.
The table takes on a much redder hue compared to the original video, and the so-called bag of cocaine appears much shinier compared to the original. The glass next to it has also been digitally altered to look dustier.
The UK government did not respond to our requests for comment.
- Irina Sheludkova contributed to this report.
The EU is feeling the bite of energy prices going up again.
Gas reached its highest cost on record in the second half of 2024, Eurostat reports.
The average rate is now €12.33 per 100 kWh, up from €11.04 in the first half of last year.
It is also the first time that prices in the EU are climbing up, following the 2022 energy crisis.
However, unlike three years ago, when the war in Ukraine and the cut in Russian gas imports (from 45% in 2021 to a projected 13% in 2025) sent prices soaring, this time, taxes are mainly responsible for the spike.
"The increase is largely driven by raised taxes in many EU countries, as earlier alleviation measures were scaled back.", says Eurostat.
Considering both EU and extra-EU countries, price differences are huge.
They range from €18.93 per 100 kWh in Sweden and €16.71 in the Netherlands, to €1.73 in Georgia, €2.13 in Turkey, €3.15 in Hungary, €4.56 in Croatia, €4.92 in Serbia, €5.13 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and €5.41 in Romania.
None of the countries with the cheapest gas prices - excluding Croatia and Romania - cut Russian gas supplies.
The picture is slightly different when actual purchasing power is taken into account.
In the EU, Portugal and Italy are actually the countries paying the most for natural gas.
Croatia and Romania could cut reliance on Russia while keeping prices low thanks to long-term and ambitious energy strategies.
Croatia's crucial liquefied natural gas terminal on Krk became operational in 2021 and the country now plans to ramp up gas production by 82% in the next three years.
Romania is one of the most energy-independent countries in the EU, and is planning to go completely autonomous, gas-wise.
Pivotal to it is its Neptune Deep offshore project. It's expected to become operational in 2027 and is aiming to double Romanian gas production.