On October 23, a Russian-language Facebook account shared a photo of a supposed cover of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo about the Louvre theft. The cover shows a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stealing items from the museum and saying, “J’en ai davantage besoin!” (“I need it more!”). In the background is the Louvre Museum, and below are armed figures. The headline reads “LA TRACE UKRAINIENNE” (“The Ukrainian Trace”).
The cover linking the Louvre theft to Volodymyr Zelenskyy is fake and does not belong to Charlie Hebdo. The satirical magazine’s real issue was published on October 22 and covers events related to the Louvre Museum, but it does not link the incident to Zelenskyy.
The fabricated cover lists the publication date as October 21 and identifies the issue number as 1735. In reality, Charlie Hebdo’s issue No. 1735 was released on October 22, and its cover features the Louvre Pyramid. The caricature, captioned “Jusqu’où l’humiliation?” (“How far does the humiliation go?”), does not depict Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Louvre was robbed on October 19, and none of Charlie Hebdo’s covers published after that date (nor any previous ones) contain a caricature resembling Zelenskyy.
The fake cover linking the Louvre theft to the Ukrainian president was also circulated by Russian-speaking users on TikTok and X. Myth Detector has previously verified multiple fake Charlie Hebdo covers spread by Russian-language sources. These often depict President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and, as in this case, aim to discredit him. Read more in Myth Detector’s materials.
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