Famous Russian phone pranksters pull hoax on hawkish US Senator John McCain

MOSCOW

-- Famous Russian phone pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, known as Vovan and Lexus, have made hoax phone calls to US Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Republican Majority leader Mitch McConnell into speaking about the sanctions against Russia, Kuznetsov told Sputnik.

The news comes as the pranksters called US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the one who earlier claimed that "Putin is continuing to advance into Korea," to say that Russia has invaded Limpopo, an African river that the politician believed to be a country in Africa.

Having introduced themselves as Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Kuznetsov and Stolyarov also discussed the sanctions against Russia with Waters.

Following the incident, Peskov said Kremlin was not linked to the prank phone calls and appreciated the fact that nobody had the idea to accuse Moscow of the tricks.

The sanctions issue was also discussed with US republicans, according to the hoaxers.

"We have pranked McCain, Lindsey Graham and the Republican Majority leader in Congress McConnell in the Congress Mitch McConnell on the issue of anti-Russian sanctions, however, we can not tell the details yet," Kuznetsov said.

Since 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union and the United States, deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia on the pretext of its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, which Moscow has repeatedly denied. In response to the restrictive measures, Russia has imposed a food embargo on some products originating in countries that have targeted it with sanctions.

Since then, NATO has been building up its military presence in Europe, particularly in eastern European countries bordering Russia, using Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext.