Pro-Russia groups are spreading doctored video clips depicting Zelenskyy as a cocaine user

• Two videos shared by pro-Russia groups depict Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a cocaine addict.
• In reality, the videos are altered versions of footage readily available to the public.
• Russia has attempted to depict Zelenskyy as a drug addict since the start of the war.

Two doctored videos depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a cocaine user have been circulating on pro-Russia Telegram channels and social media groups.

The first video appears to show powdered cocaine and a credit card on Zelenskyy’s desk while he speaks to billionaire Elon Musk over a video call.

The doctored footage was shared on Sunday on a Telegram channel name “Special Operation in Ukraine. True News.”

“We don’t know if it was editing or just Zelenskyy’s cameraman was also on drugs and missed such a moment in the frame,” wrote one of the channel’s administrators in the accompanying post seen by Insider.

“Work requiring additional concentration!” reads another sarcastic post by Ilya Kiva, a pro-Russia former member of Ukraine’s parliament who also shared the video.

The original clip was shared on Zelenskyy’s Instagram page on March 6 and clearly shows that the space on the Ukrainian leader’s desk was empty during his call with Musk.

—Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) April 23, 2022

Another doctored video being circulated involves clips from a January 2019 interview with Zelenskyy conducted by the Ukrainian Pravda news outlet.

“How do you feel about cocaine?” read the English subtitles on the doctored clip.

“Awesome! Awesome! Energy man number one. Seriously! This is energy for the whole day,” Zelenskyy says, according to the video’s subtitles. “At 7 a.m. I got up. Took a walk with the dog. And I do snort drugs. This is the mode. I live in it!”

The video, which has been viewed on Twitter 42,000 times, was posted with the caption: “Video Emerges Of Ukraine’s President Zelensky Allegedly Praising Cocaine” with the hashtag #Cocaineisahellofadrug.

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However, according to The Associated Press, the clips in the viral video were cut and reassembled out of context. In reality, Zelenskyy denied taking cocaine in the video interview and instead spoke about his morning exercise routine and love of coffee.

“Great! Great! No, I’m sitting on something white, but it is a chair. It’s not cocaine. I don’t use drugs,” Zelenskyy said when asked if he was taking drugs, according to a translation by the outlet.

“I breathe coffee, because I am very addicted to coffee. I really like coffee, it’s true,” the Ukrainian leader had said, per AP.

“This is the routine I’m doing. At 7 a.m. in the morning I get up, take my dog out and exercise. What is the use of exercising? It’s about forcing you. Energy for the whole day, I recommend it to everyone, but not through intensive practice because it makes you sleepy during the day,” he also said, AP reported.

At the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine’s government “a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.” The Kremlin and pro-Putin media outlets, such as Lenta.RU and Radio Sputnik, have seized on the claim as the conflict progressed.