Who fooled Berlin’s governing mayor Giffey with a video switch? Now Russian comedians who are considered loyal to the Kremlin have spoken out. You have also misled others.
Five days after the fake video call of an alleged Vitali Klitschko with Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey, there is a new twist in the case.
According to a report by the ARD magazine “Kontraste”, a Russian comedian duo claims to be behind the action and to have tricked Giffey and some of their counterparts from other European capitals. “I don’t want to reveal how we did it, but it was easy,” said Alexei Stoljarow from the “Vovan and Lexus” duo, according to ARD information, in a telephone call to the “Contrasts” editorial team. The artist’s claim cannot be independently verified.
Last Friday, Giffey spoke via video with a person who looked like Kyiv Mayor Klitschko but was not Klitschko. After a while, various questions from her counterpart had given her doubts as to whether she was connected to the real Klitschko. The conversation then ended prematurely. Meanwhile, it has become known that the mayors of Vienna, Madrid, Budapest and Warsaw have also been tricked in a similar way.
According to information from the “Spiegel”, the comedians were quickly considered possible candidates for the fake calls by the German security authorities. In an email they have now indicated their authorship, reported the “Spiegel”. According to “Contrasts”, Stolyarov did not give any details on how the comedian duo wanted to create the wrong Klitschko. He denied a political motive. You don’t work on behalf of Russian secret services.
Giffey plans phone call with real Klitschko
Nevertheless, Giffey assumes that those responsible for the fake call are pursuing political goals. “Regardless of who claims responsibility for the manipulation, how exactly it was carried out and what the motivation behind it is: it remains identity theft. These actions coincide with the narratives and goals of the Kremlin,” tweeted the SPD politician. “They want to present Ukraine’s partners and weaken trust in Ukraine and also in us. They won’t make it.” Giffey has already announced that he will be on the phone with the real Vitali Klitschko in the coming days.
Stolyarov and his colleague Vladimir Kuznetsov have been known in Russia for years for tricking high-ranking politicians and other international celebrities with fake calls. The Russian media had recently suspected that the two could be behind the conversation with Giffey.
In the past few weeks, the two comedians, who are considered loyal to the Kremlin, had misled former US President George W. Bush and bestselling author Joanne K. Rowling in this way. In both cases they posed as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
They usually publish recordings of the conversations on Russian social networks with some delay. According to “Contrasts”, Stoliarov announced that he would publish video recordings of all discussions with the mayors on a Russian portal from Thursday. According to their own statements, the comedians have already been banned from the international video platform YouTube. Russia’s state television shows again and again in detail when Stolyarov and Kuznetsov have once again presented a Western politician.
Probably not a deep fake
In the case of the recent fake calls to Giffey & Co., there are still many unanswered questions – not least as to the technical nature of the manipulation. In Berlin, the state security of the State Criminal Police Office is investigating. The Berlin Senate Chancellery initially announced that it appeared to be a deep fake. This involves media content that has been manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.
In the meantime, it cannot be ruled out that another manipulation technique without AI could have been used, in which snippets of existing videos are reassembled. Such things are referred to as shallow fakes or cheap fakes.
According to “Contrasts”, Stolyarov said: “I can only say that it was not a deep fake.” Whether the technical question can be clarified beyond doubt is an open question. According to the Senate Chancellery, there is no official recording of Giffey’s fake video call because this is not usual in confidential conversations.
Source: Stern
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