In May 2025, Russian officials, media and Telegram channels reported that during a visit to Ukraine, the French President and the German Chancellor used drugs in the company of the British Prime Minister. The video allegedly shows how Macron, upon seeing journalists, hides a bag of white powder. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.
On May 11, Internet users circulated a video that allegedly showed French President Emmanuel Macron and drugs belonging to him. One of the largest Russian-language Telegram channels "Live broadcast” (819,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) reported: “During the return trip from Kyiv, reporters suddenly entered the compartment: [German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz was hiding a spoon, Macron was hiding a bag. Twitter is buzzing: some are sure that these are cocaine paraphernalia, others are joking that Macron had an ordinary handkerchief. They especially discuss his facial expressions.” The post included a photo of a kit for using snuff. A blogger asked about what this “package” and “oblong thing” is in his Telegram channel Anatoly Shariy (1.1 million views). Authors of other publications directly claimedthat politicians used drugs. For example, political scientist Sergei Markov first saidthat Macron was hiding a cure for some secret illness, but then statedthat it was cocaine after all. TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko said that there was white powder in the bag.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry was also categorical in her words. Maria Zakharova, who wrote on her Telegram channel (263,000 views): “In the video are the President of France, the Prime Minister of Britain and the Chancellor of Germany. Having pushed Zelensky into another hellish intrigue to disrupt the settlement and continue bloodshed in Europe, as in the joke, the Frenchman, Englishman and German got on the train and... blew. Apparently, so much so that they forgot to remove the belongings (bag and spoon) before the journalists arrived.” RT agency first wrote: There is debate on the Internet about what Macron and Merz were hiding. However, then it's the media published a comment from a narcologist who admitted that the French President could be under the influence of drugs, and shared post by Margarita Simonyan. “Experts suggest that such a tiny spoon, which cannot be used to stir tea or eat jam, is called a snuff-spoon. This is a cocaine spoon. And common sense dictates that this is how they simultaneously resolutely and fearfully hide either cigarettes at the age of 14 from their mother, or cocaine at the age of 47 from the public,” wrote in his Telegram channel, the head of RT (452,000 views).
Similar Russian-language posts received millions of views on Telegram, but similar messages were also distributed in other languages. For example, on social network X there is only one tweet American far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has received more than 20 million views. Among others, it was retweeted by the special representative of the Russian President for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev (298,000 views), who in English askedwhether there is sugar or something else in the package. A similar statement was made by the French politician and leader of the far-right Patriots party. Florian Filippo (430,000 views). It was also reported that Macron and Merz were suspected of using cocaine Lenta.ru, "RIA Novosti", "Gazeta.ru", "Star", 360.ru, newspaper "Sight", "Regnum", "Radio Sputnik"etc.
On the morning of May 10, Merz, Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer profits by train to Kyiv. There, the politicians were joined by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, after which the four leaders met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The main topic of the negotiations was the settlement of the war in Ukraine. IN final statement The leaders of the five countries called for a complete ceasefire for 30 days, noting that if this idea is rejected, Russia will face new sanctions.
The video being distributed shows Merz, Macron and Starmer in the same carriage (publication "Regnum" erroneously reported that Tusk was also present there), being filmed by a group of journalists. Shortly after the President of France and the Chancellor of Germany sat down at the table, they hid in their fists a certain white voluminous and a small oblong object, respectively. Since the viral video is of poor quality, it is difficult to examine these objects in detail.
In the public domain you can find recordings of higher quality and taken from other angles. For example, such videos were released by agencies AFP, Associated Press And dpa, as well as a French TV channel TF1. Firstly, according to these media, the videos were filmed on the night of May 10 on the way to Kyiv, and not on the way back from the capital of Ukraine, as stated in some of the posts mentioned at the beginning of the analysis. Secondly, the journalists did not suddenly enter the carriage, but were already there when Macron and Merz met Starmer at the table. “Verified” did not find any posts or notes from the correspondents filming the meeting that talked about drugs, hidden white bags or small spoons.
In the above-mentioned videos, the white object that Macron first hid in his fist and then put in his pocket resembles a crumpled napkin. The oblong object hidden by Merz is difficult to see.
In addition to the video, journalists also filmed several photos high quality. They can be found, for example, in photo banks AFP and photo agencies Getty Images. Having studied these pictures, you can be sure that the French President actually took a used paper napkin from the table. It is noteworthy that some Russian media (for example, Lenta.ru) in their notes about the alleged cocaine package, cited similar high-quality photographs in which the napkin is clearly visible.
On the night of May 12, the Elysee Palace released X French- And English-speaking rebuttal tweets. It said: “When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to pass off a simple napkin as drugs. This fake news is being spread by France's enemies both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation."
During the preparation of this analysis, most of the Telegram channels, media and people mentioned at the beginning reported a denial from the Elysee Palace. Someone simply recited a statement from Macron’s press service - that’s what they did Anatoly Shariy, "RIA Novosti", "Star", "Gazeta.ru" And "Sight" However, some did it in a very unique way. So, Filippo retweeted the denial and called Macron himself an enemy of France. “Behave with dignity, and there will be no such disputes!” - noted the politician. Dmitriev added the Elysee Palace tweet as a replay to his previous statements, so most of his followers will not see this message. Ostashko asked subscribers if they believed in the “napkin” version. Markov wrote that the refutation allegedly appeared only two days later (however, a little more than a day has passed since the disinformation began to spread) and many will no longer believe it. Others called the Elysee Palace's statement an attempt to justify itself - that's what they did Lenta.ru, "Regnum" And RT. At the same time, some authors were confused that the refutation did not mention the spoon in any way - this was noted by the Telegram channel “Live broadcast", RT And Margarita Simonyan, who wrote: “The silence about the spoon confirms that it was a snuff spoon.”
On the Internet you can find many versions of what kind of oblong object Mertz picked up in his hand: a toothpick, a spoon for stirring coffee, a letter opener, an ear stick, etc. “Verified” cannot reliably confirm any of these options, but in shape the object most closely resembles an ordinary food skewer.
The earliest viral Russian-language posts on this topic that “Verified” was able to track appeared on the morning of May 11 (examples on Telegram here, here And here). At the same time, some of them stated that at the time of publication there were already discussions on the Internet about what items Macron and Merz were hiding. Bot Blocker Project believes, that pro-Kremlin resources only intensified the spread of this disinformation, which, most likely, initially appeared in the French-speaking segment X. As evidence, the author leads thread with archives of tweets that appeared on the evening of May 10.
Thus, there is no convincing evidence that Macron is hiding a bag of drugs in the viral video, and Merz is hiding a cocaine spoon. Such messages are based on a video of poor quality. Higher-resolution recordings and photographs show the French president hiding a paper napkin, and the German chancellor hiding an object that looked like a food skewer. Most likely, politicians removed these already used items so that they would not spoil photographs for press releases.
Cover photo: video screenshot / @AFP (YouTube)
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