When European unity becomes annoying, misinformation goes as far as to mistake a simple tissue for drugs: the Elysee Palace responds with irritation to a campaign of speculation, launched by conspiracy sites suspected of being orchestrated by Russia, in which a tissue on the table of the “coalition of volunteers” leaders, traveling by train to Kiev, is identified as a bag of cocaine.
The images of the crumpled tissue appear in several pictures of French President Emmanuel Macron with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the British, Keir Starmer, and Polish Prime Ministers, Donald Tusk, around the table on the train to Kiev. The four allies are seen smiling and joking around.
On the table, there is something white that commentators on the sites in question have presented as a bag of cocaine, which Macron picks up and then makes disappear, and a long, thin object next to Merz, presented as “a cocaine spoon.” Even in France, some have fueled the speculations, like former Marine Le Pen aide, Florian Philippot, and the “sovereignist” Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who refers to Macron as “a teenager caught red-handed.” “When European unity becomes annoying – the Elysee Palace reacts irritated and unusually – misinformation goes so far as to mistake a simple tissue for drugs.
This fake news is spread by enemies of France, both externally and internally. Stay vigilant against manipulations.” The Elysee Palace, on X, accompanies its message with a photo that is of much higher quality than those circulated by conspiracy sites, clearly showing that the white, indistinct object is a crumpled tissue, while the “cocaine spoon” is actually a toothpick.
In the Elysee Palace post, the image of the tissue is accompanied by the phrase “this is a tissue,” while the picture of the 4 leaders entering the train car is accompanied by the clarification “this is European unity to advance peace.” The post is also published in English.
