[ad_1]
Issued on: Modified:
In recent weeks, people have been sharing at least three videos purporting to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky either using cocaine or making incoherent remarks after allegedly consuming drugs. But these videos have been cut misleadingly and sometimes even digitally manipulated.
These accusations against the Ukrainian president are nothing new: During Ukraine’s presidential election in 2019, his opponents accused him of being addicted to cocaine. Zelensky went as far as to take a live drug test on social media.
Supporters of outgoing president Petro Poroshenko, who was defeated in the election, challenged the results of Zelensky’s drug test and then mocked him in a campaign clip.
Claims of drug use have emerged again in relation to Zelensky, this time via misleading videos shared online with captions in French and English.
A video digitally manipulated to put cocaine on president’s desk
The first video that has been shared since April 23, mainly on pro-Russia groups on Telegram, claims to show a pile of white powder on Zelensky’s desk while he is videochatting with Elon Musk.
But, as shown by Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, that pile of white powder was added digitally to the video. In the original video published on March 6, there was no powder on the desk.
Some users have questioned whether the March 6 video was itself edited. But two seconds into the video, a halo of light can be seen passing over a bank card placed on the desk. However, the bank card does not glow as…
[ad_2]
Source : france24
