The Élysée Palace has derided as “disinformation” claims being promoted by Kremlin figures that Emmanuel Macron took cocaine with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, and Keir Starmer while on a train travelling to Kyiv.
The false claims, which emerged on pro-Russian social media channels before being taken up by a Kremlin spokesperson and another official, come amid a recent surge in Kremlin efforts to marginalise European efforts to support Ukraine.