Last week, Le Point magazine reported that Macron had called one of the yellow vest protest movement leaders, Eric Drouet, a "media product, a product of social media." According to Macron, yellow vests receive instructions from abroad, while their activities are supported by trolls and special accounts on social networks, including those allegedly bought by RT and Sputnik.
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"The publication is real, after all. In order to verify whether the French president did use those words and how accurately he was quoted by the outlet, the [Russian] Foreign Ministry sent today an official diplomatic note to the French Embassy in Moscow, asking to clarify Paris's official stance on the issue: whether such statements were made and what caused them, what exactly is meant and whether this publication containing quotes by the French president can be regarded as the country's official stance," Zakharova told RT.