“Is Petro Poroshenko there?” Russian trolls tricked Merkel

The Wowan and Lexus duo on Monday published excerpts from a phone call in which Merkel apparently believed she was with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. A spokeswoman for the politician confirmed that there had been a corresponding conversation.

According to Merkel’s office, the phone call took place more than a month ago on January 12. “Hello, hello? Is Petro Poroshenko there?” Merkel’s voice can be heard at the beginning of the published recording. Wowan and Lexus also invited four journalists loyal to the Kremlin to present their so-called prank – including two well-known German-speaking Russia propagandists who have already spread misinformation on their blogs and Telegram channels in the past. The video on the Russian Internet platform Rutube shows them giggling gleefully when the former German chancellor apparently didn’t notice the swindle, at least at first.

Ludwig and the fake Klitschko

Vovan and Lexus, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, have consistently duped politicians and other famous figures by posing as celebrities. Among their victims was the mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig. The two men, who claim to be financed by Rutube, which belongs to the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, elicited explosive or embarrassing statements from many a celebrity. It is questionable whether Wowan and Lexus are satisfied with their Merkel talks.

Merkel sovereign

Because the 68-year-old answers confidently and professionally, revealing nothing sensational or new. For example, she advocates unity in the West in the conflict with Russia. Merkel left a question about the amount of her pension unanswered. She declines the bogus Poroshenko’s request to switch to Russian “to annoy Putin.”

“Otherwise, my plea is that we trust our governments. Only they make politics,” said the CDU politician. In doing so, she also reminded the supposed Poroshenko that he had lost the 2019 election to the current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “If you’re not elected, you have to hold back as much as possible in difficult times like this.” She does the same herself by repeatedly emphasizing that she should leave this work to the governments – including Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The Minsk agreements

During her tenure, Merkel often had dealings with Poroshenko, who is now 57 and who was Ukraine’s head of state from 2014 to 2019. Together with him and France’s then President François Hollande and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, she signed the so-called Minsk agreements for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine in 2015.

And it was precisely these agreements that Wowan and Lexus were most concerned about in their fake call. A few weeks ago, statements made by Merkel in a “Zeit online” interview made waves in Moscow. Merkel literally said: “And the 2014 Minsk Agreement was an attempt to give Ukraine time. It also used this time to become stronger, as you can see today.”

Merkel wished “all the best from the bottom of my heart”

Even Putin himself interpreted these words at the time to mean that the Minsk peace plan was only signed by the European side to give Ukraine time to arm itself and prepare for war with Russia. This reading suited the Kremlin, which repeatedly presented itself as a victim in the war it had started.

If Wowan and Lexus were hoping to elicit a more explosive, more appropriate quote from Merkel in this regard, they were disappointed. Because with a view to the Minsk agreement, the former German chancellor once again only says: “This put Ukraine in a position to be able to react differently to Putin’s aggression today than was the case in 2014.

This may also explain why the publication of the troll action only elicited a manageable response from Russia’s Kremlin-affiliated media and commentators, who often demonstratively celebrate Wovan and Lexus. At the end of the call, Merkel wished her interlocutor “all the best from the bottom of my heart.”