Two Russian trolls have repeatedly tricked celebrities with staged phone calls. Now the former Chancellor Merkel has probably also been the victim of a false call.
According to the Russian trolls Wowan and Lexus, who specialize in disinformation, former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) fell for a staged phone call about the Ukraine conflict. Interviewers close to the Kremlin published excerpts from it on Monday. Merkel’s office in Berlin confirmed to the German Press Agency that there was a telephone conversation.
“I can confirm a phone call with a caller who posed as former (Ukrainian) President Petro Poroshenko,” a spokeswoman for Merkel told dpa.
The Russians with the stage names Wowan and Lexus have repeatedly fooled celebrities by posing as false names. “The phone call took place on January 12, 2023, supported by a German-Ukrainian translation by the Foreign Office’s language service,” Merkel’s office said in a statement. “The former Chancellor then informed the Federal Foreign Office about the impression she had gained from the caller during the call.”
During her tenure, Merkel often dealt with Poroshenko. The 57-year-old was the predecessor of current President Volodymyr Zelenskyj from 2014 to 2019.
Source: Stern
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