Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
World
Cormac O'Shea

Pictures of French President 'after Vladimir Putin call' have the world worried - but all is not as it seems

Pictures of the French President Emmanuel Macron "after a phone call with Vladimir Putin" have the world of social media worried.

The images shared on Twitter show the European leader with his head in his hands and looking stressed after apparently talking to the Russian head of state.

Shared by an account called visagrad24, the tweet has been liked close to 35,000 times already.

But, the tweet itself leaves out some important information, as the images actually date back to early February and are not of a recent meeting, which many users of the site suspected - and the tweet itself stated.

Official President photographer Soazig de la Moissonnière shared the pictures on her Instagram on the 19th of last month, dating them the previous day.

This was just days before Putin was about to begin his invasion of Ukraine, and is not a sign of worse to come from the Russians.

It comes as concerns are growing that Vladimir Putin won't stop at just invading Ukraine as he sets his sights further afield.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could be the next targets if Russian forces are not halted in Ukraine, according to one EU official.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President at the European Commission, warned that the Kremlin could be eyeing up the three ex-Soviet Baltic states.

“If we do not support Ukraine, it’s not going to stop in Ukraine," the Latvian trade commissioner told Politico on Monday.

"Clearly Putin is now in some kind of aggressive war mood and unfortunately it is likely that this aggression will continue in other countries."

Mr Dombrovskis then highlighted Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as three countries at particular risk.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.