Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti has fallen victim to Russian pranksters who posed as Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics during a conversation with him. This was reported by Balkan Insight, writes UNN.
Details
Minutes after the video was posted on Rumble.com, Kurti's office released a statement acknowledging the "unfortunate incident." The 11-minute recording was made by well-known Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus.
Kurti's office said the incident occurred on February 11, shortly after the February 9 election, during a period when Prime Minister Kurti was receiving numerous congratulatory messages and calls regarding the election results. Due to time constraints, it was not always possible to thoroughly check each call.
This unfortunate incident confirms what we have known for a long time: Russia is obsessed with Kosovo and continues to target our country,
Kurti's conversation with the pranksters begins with one of the two Russians congratulating Kurti on his "biggest victory" in the February 9 election.
Kurti complains about a "hybrid war against our government" which, he says, "mainly comes from Serbia and Russia and some of their elements in Kosovo."
Kurti also mentioned in the conversation the US President's Special Envoy Richard Grenell, noting that he played an important role in the overthrow of his government in 2020. When Kurti mentioned Grenell's sexual orientation in the conversation, his interlocutor interrupted him to say: "You know I'm gay?" To which Kurti replied: "No, I don't know."
Kurti's office said that during the election campaign, Sputnik Serbia and Russia Today published more than 60 fake news and disinformation articles, interfering in Kosovo's democratic process.
While we regret that Prime Minister Albin Kurti was targeted by a prank call, this episode confirms Prime Minister Kurti's principled and consistent position on key issues, whether in public or private conversations,
The publication notes that Russian pranksters have previously made prank calls to various international politicians, including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Giorgia Meloni and Andrzej Duda, as well as public figures such as Prince Harry and Elton John.
Recall
Last year, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova reported about mass attempts by pranksters to contact Ukrainian officials on behalf of American officials. She noted that the embassy uses only verified communication channels and reports such cases to law enforcement.