Fed chief falls into prank call by Russians pretending to be Zelensky – 04/28/2023 – World

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell fell for a prank call by Russians who support Vladimir Putin and impersonate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in January during a video conference, US media reported on Thursday. ).

Powell participated in a chat with two men, whom The New York Times identified as Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stoliarov, in which he spoke about the US economic situation, in particular high inflation and fears of recession.

Excerpts of the conversation began to circulate on social media and also in Russian state media, prompting the Fed to speak out.

In a similar note sent to vehicles such as Bloomblerg, the New York Times and the CNN network, a spokesman for the US central bank said that Powell actually participated in a conversation with someone who lied when saying he was Zelensky.

“It was a friendly conversation and took place in the context of our position to support the Ukrainian people at this challenging time, but no sensitive or confidential information was discussed in the forum,” he said.

The spokesperson added that the material appears to have been edited, and therefore it was not possible to confirm the veracity of all its content. The case was then forwarded to the American police,

According to a report by the American media, in the videos Powell recognizes that a slowdown in US economic growth is possible and even likely, but that it is possible to circumvent it and that rising prices would not be the best way out. All of this ties in with what he’s been saying publicly for some time now.

Next week, Fed executives have a meeting to hammer out the new interest rate, and Powell is expected to attend a press conference. He is expected to be questioned and comment on the Russians’ prank call he fell into.

The situation involving the head of the Fed is not uncommon. The fact that Russian comedians, Putin’s allies, were able to talk to — and deceive — a high official raised alarms about the Fed’s security capacity and also brought to mind other cases.

Vovan and Lexus, nicknames for Kuznetsov and Stoliarov, respectively, have already managed to get in touch with several Western politicians in recent years, when they deceived them by pretending to be other authorities.

In 2018, for example, the UK said it believed Russia was behind a hoax on the then British Foreign Secretary, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

And, earlier this year, the two deceived the president of the European Central Bank, the French Christine Lagarde, also pretending to be Volodimir Zelensky. In a statement to Bloomberg, the European official said Lagarde had agreed to the talks “in good faith” to show her support for Kiev amid the war.

Another of the victims of the double by the former Prime Minister of Germany Angela Merkel. She actually thought she was talking to former Ukrainian President Petro Porochenko.