Macron Slams Kremlin's "Cocaine Train" Claims as Desperate Disinformation

[Social Media]

 

Macron Slams Kremlin's "Cocaine Train" Claims as Desperate Disinformation

 

President Emmanuel Macron has strongly condemned a bizarre conspiracy theory promoted by pro-Russian media and officials alleging he used cocaine while traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders. The French presidency, in a public rebuke, dismissed the rumor as absurd and part of a broader campaign of disinformation aimed at undermining European unity.

🇷🇺 JUST IN: Russia's Maria Zakharova reacts to the viral "cocaine" video featuring Macron, Starmer & Merz: "Looks like the Frenchman, the Englishman & the German boarded a train… and took a hit. The fate of Europe is in the hands of drugged, dependent, temporary figures."… pic.twitter.com/RSj9F16EAq

— K13 News (@K13News) May 12, 2025

 

“This fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation,” the Élysée Palace posted on X, formerly Twitter. The statement followed the circulation of doctored or misleading footage online purporting to show Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer using cocaine during their train journey to Ukraine.

 

 

Social media posts promoting the conspiracy showed Macron picking up a used tissue, which conspiracy theorists claimed was a bag of cocaine. Others alleged that Merz was seen using a “cocaine spoon.” However, high-definition video footage of the incident clearly showed that Macron was handling a crumpled tissue, and the so-called spoon was nothing more than a standard plastic coffee stirrer.

 

The Élysée responded pointedly: “When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs.”

The trio had been traveling overnight from Poland to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. During the visit, they collectively called on Russia to observe a 30-day ceasefire, a proposal that President Vladimir Putin quickly rejected.

 

In a further escalation, the Russian foreign ministry amplified the conspiracy. Its spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, posted on Telegram: “A Frenchman, an Englishman and a German” had allegedly been spotted with cocaine paraphernalia. She wrote, “The fate of Europe is being decided by utterly (drug) dependent individuals. It’s as if the Almighty Himself is lifting the veil on this putrid spectacle.” Zakharova also repeated the Kremlin's long-standing narrative that President Zelensky is an “unstable cocaine addict,” adding that a Western diplomat had supposedly confided in her that drug use was common among European leaders.

 

The inflammatory remarks align with a consistent pattern of false narratives promoted by Kremlin-affiliated accounts. One such French-language pro-Russian account cynically commented: “Coke is going to take decisions on the third world war.”

 

The French government has warned that these attacks are part of an intensified digital assault by Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, which Paris says has been targeting President Macron’s administration since 2017. “It infiltrates French digital networks with two aims: collecting intelligence for the benefit of the Kremlin and destabilising our society by creating distrust,” the foreign ministry stated earlier this month.

 

Macron himself has been a frequent target of Russian-backed online campaigns. These have included baseless claims about his sexuality, accusations that his wife Brigitte is transgender, and conspiracy theories linking him to a supposed global cabal orchestrated by billionaire George Soros.

 

The accounts pushing the cocaine rumor have now suggested that the Élysée has ordered French media outlets to suppress coverage of the story—yet another unsubstantiated claim in a growing list of provocations.

 

Despite the noise, French officials remain adamant that such attacks only underscore the desperation of those threatened by European solidarity.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Times  2025-05-14

 

 

[impulse]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

Macron himself has been a frequent target of Russian-backed online campaigns. These have included baseless claims about his sexuality, accusations that his wife Brigitte is transgender, and conspiracy theories linking him to a supposed global cabal orchestrated by billionaire George Soros.

 

We call those spoiler alerts.

 

If your wife is a dude, what does that say about your sexuality?

 

I get a kick out of the way they blame Russkie intelligence agencies.  As if TikTokers and YouTubers don't do it just for clicks.

 

 

[Hakuna Matata]

Macron, Starmer, Merz caught in 'cocaine scandal’? Viral train video takes the internet by storm