“Victim» the Polish president fell for two Russian pranksters who thought he was talking to his French counterpart the night a rocket fell on a village near the border with Ukraine.
His office Andrei Duda confirmed the fact, an admission that will likely raise many questions about its operation and safety. After all, it is the second time in recent years that the Russian pranksters “Bovan” and “Words» they manage to contact the Polish president pretending to be someone else.
In the recorded 7.5-minute call, Duda can be heard speaking English to a man who is trying to imitate a French accent.
“Emmanuel, believe me, I am extremely careful,” Duda says to his interlocutor, on the night when everyone feared that the war in Ukraine will spread to the rest of Europe or even in the world. “I don’t blame the Russians. I don’t want a war with Russia and believe me, I’m very, very careful,” he said.
Duda’s office confirmed via Twitter that that evening, after the explosion in the village of Prevodov and after the president had spoken by phone with heads of state and government “a person who claimed to be the French president Emmanuel Macron connected with him.”
“During the call, President Andrei Duda realized, from the unusual way the conversation was conducted, that maybe it was an attempted prank and ended the call.”
Duda told “Macron” that the explosion was caused by a missile but that he did not know who fired it and that he was awaiting the results of the investigation. He also said Poland did not intend to invoke Article 5 of the NATO treaty on collective self-defense, which obliges member countries to help each other in the event of an attack.
As reported by the Athens News Agency, Duda was also asked about Russia’s accusations that Ukraine was planning to use “dirty” bombs. “I’m more afraid of certain problems with nuclear power plants in Ukraine (…) I’m more afraid of a nuclear disaster,” he answered.
In 2020, “Bovan” and “Lexus” called Duda impersonating United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The two pranksters are known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians: in the past they have managed to speak – and make the conversations public – with Macron, British star Elton John, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Harry and the Turk President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
When asked by AFP if they staged the hoax, the two Russians, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, confirmed it: “We said it on all social media platforms (…) and posted a video.”
Source: News Beast
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