Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey broke up a conference call with the alleged mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, on Friday afternoon. (Archive image)Image: keystone
Franziska Wohlfarth / watson.de
However, the course of the conversation and the setting of the topic "caused distrust on the Berlin side," said the Berlin Senate Chancellery on Twitter on Friday evening. "It was about the fact that he referred to an alleged conversation with Ambassador Melnyk and asked how we see it that so many Ukrainians wanted to sneak social benefits in Berlin," Frerichs continued.
Regarding the announced conversation with Mayor Klitschko:
The course of the conversation and the setting of the topic aroused distrust on the part of Berlin. The conversation ended prematurely. (1/3)
— Berlin Senate Chancellery (@RegBerlin) June 24, 2022
"And there was a request that we, through our authorities, support young men in particular to go back to Ukraine to fight there." The last topic was even more striking: "He asked if we could support Kyiv in an advisory capacity to organize a kind of CSD (Christopher Street Day). In view of the war, that was more than strange." The connection was then terminated or broken off.
Deepfake attack also in Madrid
Klitschko confirms deepfake
«Dear Franziska Giffey, I just found out that you and the mayor of Madrid received a fake call. Someone pretended to be Vitali Klitschko – but it wasn't me,” Klitschko assured the “Bild” newspaper on Friday evening. And further: »I hope that we will soon be able to call via my official channels. I don't need a translator."
Thanks for the offer, I'd love to! After all, we have a lot to talk about.
PS: At the beginning of the conversation, we were asked whether it could take place in Russian + translated, since other non-German-speaking employees were also there who should understand what was being discussed. https://t.co/cSCk6H4Gmx
— Franziska Giffey (@FranziskaGiffey) June 24, 2022
Giffey responded a short time later to the mayor of Kiev's offer to talk and tweeted: "Thank you for the offer, I'd love to! After all, we have a lot to talk about."
FDP politician on the incident: "Extremely disturbing"
Other politicians also commented on the incident online. Among them was FDP member of the Bundestag Konstantin Kuhle: "This process is extremely disturbing and must be completely clarified," he demanded on Twitter. “The use of deep fakes to influence political processes will be a huge topic in the coming years. We have to be prepared!"
This process is extremely disturbing and must be completely cleared up. The use of deep fakes to influence political processes will be a huge topic in the coming years. We must be prepared! https://t.co/tcc0RuPjla
— Konstantin Kuhle (@KonstantinKuhle) June 24, 2022
also dr Thomas-Gabriel Rüdiger, head of the Institute for Cybercriminology at the Brandenburg Police University, spoke out on Twitter for more education and preparation. "Bright thing that shows why deepfakes can be a danger and why we have to inform schools with media competence about these possibilities at an early stage."
— dr Thomas-Gabriel Rüdiger (@TGRuediger) June 24, 2022
Fake remains fake: These manipulated images are making the rounds on the internet again and again
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Fake remains fake: These manipulated images are making the rounds on the internet again and again
Because making deepfakes is so easy, we gave it a try
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