Comedians close to the Kremlin used a fake phone call to get explosive statements about Crimea and the warfare from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “If you ask me who is blowing something up in Crimea or Belgorod, I’ll tell you privately, yes, we were,” Kuleba said in the call, which was widely reported in Russian media on Friday. The Russian caller on the other end posed as ex-US Ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul. The Mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, was fooled with a similar trick in June.
In Russia, Ukraine is blamed for the explosion on the Crimean bridge. Kyiv has not officially acknowledged this. In Moscow, however, Kuleba’s statement should also be seen as an admission of guilt for the damage to the bridge. At the same time, Kuleba also said that the counter-offensive in southern Ukraine was carried out in close coordination with the United States. Russia accuses NATO of being a war party in Ukraine.
The fake call was organized by the same comedian couple who tricked several mayors in EU capitals into believing they were talking to Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko earlier this summer. Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey was one of the victims of the prank call.
Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov aka “Vovan and Lexus” have been known in Russia for years for tricking politicians and other international celebrities with fake calls. Some time ago, according to ARD information, they admitted in a “Contrasts” interview that they worked for an Internet platform that belongs to the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.
