Who is the russian prankster

Audio of Mr Trudeau speaking to an accomplice of pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov in January has been released by the pair.

The prime minister apparently fielded questions from the fake Ms Thunberg, on Nato, world peace and Donald Trump. Days before the recording, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS had been shot down after taking off from the Iranian capital of Tehran, amid escalating tensions between Iran and the US.

All passengers and crew on board the flight were killed, including 57 Canadian citizens. Mr Trudeau told the fake Ms Thunberg that he had received "many many phone calls" on the subject talking about "de-escalation on all sides". The fake Ms Thunberg then told Mr Trudeau that he and other world leaders "are adults, but you act like children". As you probably know, after the election, other leaders often call the winners to congratulate.

And there is very little time to verify who is really calling. It was much easier to screw up Emmanuel Macron or Boris Johnson. President's Office press head Marcin Kedryna confirmed the call was genuine. Hajdu looking at 'realistic timeline' to end First Nations boil water advisories. Watch More Politics Stories false. Is there enough support for FN military veterans? The mission to save Afghan interpreters. Afghan interpreters 'top of mind' for government. Peter Juni on hitting pause on reopening plans.

Cabinet building. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Last week, numerous news outlets reported that a string of European politicians had been tricked by a sophisticated Russian plot.

Parliamentarians from the UK, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had all arranged video calls with a hoaxer claiming to be Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to imprisoned Russian anti-Putin politician Alexei Navalny. Speaking to The Verge , the hoaxers say their imitation Volkov was created using effects no more sophisticated than makeup and artfully obscure camera angles.

The pair say they tricked their way into various meetings with European politicians and even a live interview on Latvian TV. They did so by cold-calling and emailing their targets from fake addresses, using a real picture of Volkov as their digital avatar. As proof, the pair shared some of this correspondence with The Verge.

Over the years, the pair have tricked their way into phone calls with the likes of Justin Trudeau , Elton John , Bernie Sanders , Lindsey Graham , and Boris Johnson , each time aiming to catch these figures off-guard and tease potentially embarrassing statements out of them.

They plainly know which side their bread is buttered. Creating unrest elsewhere, though, is par for the course. The pair say they chose to impersonate Volkov for a number of reasons.