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 dpa news agency that there was a telephone conversation.
"I can confirm a phone call with a caller who posed as former (Ukrainian) President Petro Peroshenko," said a spokeswoman for Merkel at the request of the 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 German-Ukrainian translation by the language service of the Federal Foreign Office," says a statement from Merkel's office. "The Chancellor a. D. then informed the 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.