Russian leaders — and Alex Jones — claimed that Macron was photographed with a bag of cocaine. France's Élysée Palace responded with a close-up of the white object, writing, "This is a tissue.

Unsubstantiated claims of supposed cocaine use by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on a train to Ukraine last weekend may have started from a French account.

Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular the war started by Moscow. He also covers other areas of geopolitics including ...