After the mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) fell victim to a false Vitali Klitschko, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked politicians who have telephone or video consultations with foreign colleagues to contact the respective embassy in advance: “To to avoid such regrettable incidents in the future”, it is noted that “the coordination of such agreements should take place through the responsible embassy”.
In response to an APA request, the State Department said on Sunday that in such cases they were “routinely and always available to assist” in establishing contacts and arranging arrangements with official authorities in Ukraine.
Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Austrian embassy in Kiev were involved in planning Ludwig’s talks with Kiev mayor Klitschko. It was not until June 10 that the ambassador was informed by the office of the mayor of Vienna about the talks already organized by the city of Vienna. “There was also no State Department official or an ambassador in person or virtually.”
According to the information, the embassy in Kiev was not able to determine until Saturday that Ludwig had not spoken to the real Klitschko (see video above). The foreign office is not aware of any other such fake calls.
Not only Ludwig, but also the mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martinez-Almeida, fell victim to a fake Klitschko. Budapest would also be affected. Presumably these were so-called deepfakes, or video circuits that were manipulated with great care. Realistic media content is generated using artificial intelligence. Exactly how that happened in Klitschko’s case and who was behind it — such as Russia, which has been at war in Ukraine for months — is as yet unclear.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
