The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda confirmed - today, Tuesday - that the president spoke last week about a missile explosion in a Polish village to someone he thought was his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, but was in fact talking to a Russian prankster.
The president's office said the call took place last week after an audio recording that two Russian online scammers said they were behind was circulated.
The couple has a history of deceiving high-profile people and is believed to have links to the Russian security services.
Duda's office tweeted, "After the missile explosion in Bzhivodov, and during continuous calls with heads of state and government, there was a call with someone claiming to be French President Emmanuel Macron."
The office added that Duda realized from the way the caller was conducting the conversation that it might have been an attempt at fraud, and hung up.
The two Russian scammers, "Vofan and Lexus", confirmed to the French Press Agency that they were behind the phone conversation, and added, "We said this on all social media ... and we published a video clip."
Russian accent
In the November 15 call, a person with a Russian accent claimed to be Macron, and he spoke friendly about the deadly missile explosion near the Ukrainian border earlier that day.
During the call, Duda said, "Hello, Emmanuel... Thank you for your call. The situation is very difficult, as you know."
He added that the explosion was caused by a missile "that was fired and we do not know who was responsible for it," and that he was awaiting the results of the investigation.
"Emmanuel, believe me, I'm very careful. I don't blame the Russians... I don't want to go to war with Russia," he added.
Duda also said that Poland is not considering upholding Article 5 of the founding treaty of NATO, which requires member states to help each other in the event of an attack on one of them.
The Polish president was also asked about Russian allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use dirty bombs, and he replied, "I am more concerned about some problems with nuclear power plants in Ukraine... I am more concerned about a nuclear catastrophe."