Two Russian comedians claim to be behind fraudulent video calls with several European mayors.
Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov indicated to several media outlets that they were the authors of these "pranks".
They announced that they would soon explain their actions in more detail on a Russian video portal.
Among other things, Berlin's governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) had spoken to a person who looked like Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko.
When asked by the ARD magazine “Contrasts”, Stolyarov denied a political background.
Giffey had assumed such a thing after the conversation and spoke of a "means of modern warfare".
According to the report, the SPD politician no longer rules out “caricatural backgrounds”.
The two Russian comedians, who appear as "Vovan and Lexus", repeatedly attract attention with fakes.
Most recently, for example, they led Harry Potter author Joanne K. Rowling to believe that she was on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Vovan and Lexus” also posed as Greta Thunberg that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to an exchange.
In Austria, consequences are drawn from the fake talks
After the conversation last Friday, which is said to have lasted almost half an hour, the Berlin Senate Chancellery announced that it had probably been the victim of a deepfake.
With this technique, an image or video is generated using artificial intelligence.
It is not yet clear whether the false Klitschko was actually animated in this way or whether the comedians simply reassembled old video excerpts and played them to Giffey.
In Berlin, the state security of the State Criminal Police Office is investigating.
However, there is apparently no recording of the conversation, which should make technical clarification more difficult.
According to previous intelligence, the scammers used an email address similar to that of the Kiev mayor to initiate the conversation.
Elsewhere, the fake has consequences.
After the Mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig, only realized after the end of the conversation with the alleged Klitschko that he was being tricked, the Austrian Foreign Ministry warned that such conversations should be coordinated with the embassies of other countries in the future.