Russian propagandists spread cocaine rumor about Macron, claiming a tissue in a video from leaders' Kyiv trip is a 'little white bag'

Russian propagandists still haven't kicked their nasty habit of accusing foreign leaders of doing cocaine. Late last week, when a video of the French, British, and German leaders on a train to Kyiv appeared to show a small white bag, Internet users quickly started speculating that it was evidence of drug use. (In reality, the “bag” was a tissue.) Russian Telegram channels and officials quickly started amplifying the rumor, which spread widely enough that the French government eventually found it necessary to put out a statement. Here’s how the situation unfolded.

On Friday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz traveled to Kyiv by train. Footage of the trip, captured by journalists, quickly spread across social media, where some users speculated that the leaders might have been using cocaine. Macron, they claimed, appeared to hide a small white bag as reporters approached, while Merz seemed to conceal a straw.

Russian state propaganda seized on the rumor almost immediately. Commenting on the video, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the European leaders outright of drug use.

“After pushing Zelensky into yet another hellish scheme to derail a settlement and prolong the bloodshed in Europe, it’s like a joke: a Frenchman, an Englishman, and a German got on a train — and did a line,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Sunday. “Apparently, they were so out of it they forgot to hide the paraphernalia — a small bag and a spoon — before the journalists arrived. Europe’s fate is in the hands of placeholders who are dependent, in every sense of the word.”

Zakharova also claimed that in 2022, when she asked a Western ambassador why they were sending weapons to “the unbalanced junkie Zelensky,” who she said had “been on cocaine for years,” the ambassador allegedly replied, “That’s normal for the E.U. — many Western leaders use drugs.”

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), also weighed in. “Is this footage AI or real? If it's real—are we looking at sugar or something entirely different? If it's something else, it explains a lot of recent ideas and proposals,” he posted on X on May 11.

But as the French newspaper Libération pointed out, high-resolution photos and video from AFP and the Associated Press show that the supposed bag of white powder was actually a folded handkerchief, and the “straw” was likely a spoon or a toothpick.

The French president’s office ultimately released a statement denouncing the rumors as disinformation.

“When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs,” reads the Élysée Palace’s statement, posted on X late on Sunday. “This fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation.”

While in Kyiv, Macron, Starmer, and Merz called on Russia to observe a 30-day ceasefire starting May 12. Instead, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by launching over 100 drones at Ukraine.