Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) fell for a staged phone call about the conflict in Ukraine. At the request of the dpa, a spokeswoman for Merkel confirmed that the caller had impersonated former (Ukrainian) president Petro Poroshenko.
Behind the call were Russian trolls Wowan and Lexus, who specialize in disinformation. Interviewers close to the Kremlin published excerpts from it on Monday.
Merkel asked for secrecy
Merkel first asked that the conversation be kept secret: “I would be happy if we could do without active cooperation with the media. Because I don’t want a second public front to emerge. It’s complicated enough as it is. Now it is very important that we do not create an opposition line and that it is only a personal conversation between us.”
West reveals “certain differences” between states
The ex-chancellor noted that the Western countries had now allied themselves against Russia. However, she made no mention of arms shipments or peace talks with Ukraine. According to her, France and Germany communicate “very actively with the US”.
The presidents of the US and France would take the same position as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “It is important for Germany that there is a coordinated policy between the Allies,” she added. However, she pointed out that there were “certain differences” between the positions of European states.
Reduces the match
During the conversation, Merkel also stressed that the Minsk agreement would at least have allowed Ukraine to gain time between 2014 and 2021. The package of measures aimed to end the war that has been raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Wow and Lexus
The Russians with the stage names Wowan and Lexus have repeatedly fooled celebrities by posing as false names. “The phone conversation took place on January 12, 2023, supported by German-Ukrainian translation by the language service of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” a statement from Merkel’s office says.
Several times the trolls offered to continue the conversation in Russian. “Of course we won’t. Because my Russian is now even worse than in 2014,” Merkel said self-deprecatingly. The Chancellor then informed a. D. Foreign Affairs about the impression they had of the caller during the telephone conversation.
During her tenure, Merkel often had to deal with Poroshenko. The 57-year-old was the predecessor of current president Volodymyr Zelenskyy from 2014 to 2019.
Source: Krone
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