A video is circulating on social media that appears to show European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, France's former President Nicolas Sarkozy, and other Western leaders admitting to damaging accusations linked to their periods in power. The footage also includes former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former US Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. It is frequently shared with identical captions asking: "Do you ever wish Western leaders would be a bit more honest?" — a broad statement that signals potential disinformation. In the video, Sarkozy's image says, "Did I help bomb Libya and kill Gaddafi to bury proof that he bankrolled my presidential campaign?" Next, von der Leyen's likeness states, "Did I promote COVID jabs because I set up a €35 billion cash injection through a secret deal with Pfizer?" Despite the voices sounding quite accurate, the video is actually AI-generated, evident from the leaders’ unnatural features and stiff speech patterns. The video was produced by the Russian state-controlled news network Russia Today (RT), as indicated by their logo in the top right corner and the video outro celebrating RT's 20th anniversary. RT includes a disclaimer near the end noting that the video is "AI-generated parody content. " However, RT has been banned in the EU, the UK, and other countries since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in attempts to counteract disinformation. The contentious topics discussed by the AI-generated leaders revolve around controversial issues from their tenures. For instance, Sarkozy’s image questions the unproven allegation that he aided in bombing Libya and killing Muammar Gaddafi to conceal evidence of his campaign being funded by Libya. The former French president was imprisoned last week for criminal conspiracy related to a scheme to obtain Libyan financing during his 2007 campaign and is currently appealing his conviction. AI-von der Leyen refers to the so-called "Pfizergate" case, claiming she personally made a deal with Pfizer to promote its COVID vaccines, bypassing official procurement rules. She denies any misconduct. Meanwhile, the Boris Johnson likeness implies he sabotaged a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine when it was "on the table. " A common false narrative promoted by the Kremlin is that the EU and European countries oppose peace in Ukraine and want to prolong the war.

In reality, European leaders have consistently supported peace initiatives aiming for a lasting resolution that respects Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. In February, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy firmly dismissed claims that Johnson derailed a potential peace agreement in spring 2022, allegations made by Russian sources including President Vladimir Putin. "There were several approaches with ultimatums [from Russia to end the war], and I never gave my approval for it, " Zelenskyy told The Guardian in February. "It doesn’t fit with logic; what was he [Johnson] supposed to be talking us out of?" Johnson has also rejected the accusations as Russian propaganda. This RT video emerges amid rapid advances in the quality and complexity of AI-generated videos. In October, the Sora 2 technology — developed by OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT — was launched in Canada and the US but is not officially available in Europe.