Russian pranksters trick Irish PM who told them Ukraine not likely to join EU

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar’s office says call was doctored

Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar has become the latest victim of pro-Kremlin Russian phone pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, his office confirmed.

The former YouTubers, who moved to streaming platform Rumble after their page was suspended, have tricked some of the world’s most high-profile politicians, including Justin Trudeau, Boris Johnson and most recently Italy’s Georgia Meloni.

The pranksters spoke to Mr Varadkar while pretending to be representatives of the African Union Commission, according to a video of the call posted online on Tuesday.

During the course of the call, the Irish leader appears to say it is “not very likely” that Ukraine will join the European Union in the near future, and that he hopes to see a united island of Ireland “in my lifetime”.

A spokesperson for Mr Varadkar confirmed that the call took place “earlier this year” but said the video was doctored. The video “does not represent what actually took place”, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the conversation was cut short by the prime minister because of “suspicions about its nature and the manner in which it was conducted”.

“Earlier this year the Taoiseach took part in a virtual meeting on the understanding that it was with a representative of the African Union Commission... It transpired to be a sophisticated deep-fake,” the statement by the spokesperson said.

The recording of the 13-minute call was posted on Rumble, a video-streaming website that has controversially pledged to rally against censorship and allow freedom of speech. Critics say it provides a safe haven for extremist and harmful content that would not be allowed by moderators on mainstream sites.

On the call, Mr Varadkar said that the war in Ukraine is unlikely to end soon and Ireland might not be able to provide security guarantees to the country over questions of neutrality.

“We have accepted (Ukraine) as a candidate for membership in the European Union. But these negotiations tend to take a long time. Any state must meet certain standards in terms of democracy, the justice system, the legal system and the economy before it can join,” Mr Varadkar said according to Pravda.

File Irish premier said he wanted the European bloc to back a new financial package for Ukraine (PA Wire)

The prime minister said he hoped to see the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland join together on the strength of public opinion. “There is not yet a majority in Northern Ireland who want to see unification but I hope at some point in my lifetime that will happen,” Mr Varadkar said.

The callers then compared Irish reunification with Russia’s annexation of Crimea to which the Irish prime minister said that “Russia invaded” and organised a “bogus referendum” there. “That is definitely not what we are going to do,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said he really hoped that Russian aggression had been contained in Ukraine.

As Mr Varadkar draws the call to a close, the pranksters sign off: “Say hello to your leprechauns.”

It is not clear if the footage has been doctored.

Russian pranksters (L-R) Vladimir "Vovan" Kuznetsov, 30, and Alexei "Lexus" Stolyarov, 28, give an interview to AFP at a (AFP via Getty Images)

The Irish government has informed its embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as well as the African Union Commission and the National Cyber Security Centre regarding the phone call.

Vladimir “Vovan” Kuznetsov and Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov are two prominent Russian pranksters whose opinions align with Russian state media and the Russian government.

In September, the two targeted Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who shared her thoughts on the Ukraine war and her frustration with migrants coming to Italy. She reportedly said that there is “a lot of fatigue... from all sides” about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

She said “the problem is to find a way out” of the war that is “acceptable for both without destroying the international law”.

Her office said the call took place on 18 September and the pranksters at that time also impersonated officials from the African Union Commission.

Mr Johnson became the victim of a hoax call by the pair when he was working as foreign secretary in 2018, and discussed UK-Russia relations, the Salisbury poisoning, and Syria.

Downing Street ordered an investigation into the incident that some believed was at the behest of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The duo have also pranked Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau, Bernie Sanders during his Democratic presidential nomination campaign, and senior European parliamentarians from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and the UK.