Polish president spoke to Russian prankster posing as Macron

— Shortly after a missile strike in Poland near the Ukrainian border killed two people, Polish President Andrzej Duda was duped into taking a phone call by a Russian comedian posing as French President Emmanuel Macron.

Duda discussed potentially invoking NATO’S Article 4 and shared details of conversations with U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the call, which was published on the Russian video platform Rutube.

The Polish president’s office on Tuesday acknowledged falling for the ruse and said the call came amid a flurry of conversations with world leaders immediately after the missile strike. The president ended the call after realizing it might be a fraud.

Russian comedians Vovan (Vladimir Kuznetsov) and Lexus (Alexei Stolyarov), who have a long history of duping foreign leaders with fake calls, were behind the impersonation.

In the seven-and-a-half-minute conversation, Duda tells the person posing as Macron about the missile strike in the border area with Ukraine and expresses concerns about an escalating conflict between Russia and NATO.

“There is no doubt that was [a] missile. Launched, we don’t know by whom, launched somewhere in the east,” Duda explains in choppy English, adding that the missile was built by Russia and large blast crater.

Then it gets explosive: Duda goes on to report to the Russians impersonator that he has already spoken with Stoltenberg about initiating proceedings under Article 4 of the NATO Treaty. Article 4 provides for consultations of NATO states if one of them sees the integrity of its territory, political independence or its own security threatened.

Duda also tells the caller about his phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden.

“Does he blame Russia ” the caller wants to know.