A pair of Russian pranksters who have targeted several high-profile American politicians claim they called Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders late last year posing as teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg with an offer to support his campaign.
Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov Told the Associated Press the call took place in December 2019. The pair posted an audio recording of the purported call to YouTube on Thursday. The Sanders campaign did not immediately return Fox News’ request to verify whether or not the recording is authentic.
The recording was released more than two months after the call because of Sanders’ success in the Iowa Democratic caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, they said.
On the call, a female pretends to be Thunberg and Stolyarov plays her father, Svante. They offer to lend support to the Vermont senator’s campaign. Sanders suggests “Greta” make a public statement in support of him and that they do an event together the next time she visits the United States.
“Let us continue to talk and when you come to the United States I will bring some people together and we can do some interesting things, and if you wanted to make a statement in support of my candidacy and the program we have outlined for climate change, I would be very very appreciative,” Sanders said.
Capitol sex scandals spark push to ban House lawmakers from sleeping with staffers
We Have Receipts: Four Years Ago, Fauci Said ‘Nothing to Hide,’ ‘Very Happy to Testify’ Before Congress
Can Fauci hide behind the Fifth? Game-changing Biden pardon may not provide complete cover, experts say
Watch: Seattle Top Cop Gives Absurd New Name to Criminal Gangs, Confirms He Was at Black Conference in Texas During Seattle Mass Shooting
‘Woke’ Smithsonian exhibit lionizes embattled Fauci amid conservative scrutiny of museum’s messaging
Trump accused China of an ‘election security nightmare’ but then undercut his own warning
Here’s What We Know About Key Questions Fauci Refused to Answer
How the Big Beautiful Bill became law: Trump the closer
Man sentenced to 6 months in jail for ramming car into Jewish group’s world headquarters in New York
Trump admin invokes 30-year dormant terror court as it seeks to deport Afghan woman tied to Election Day plot
Lindsay Clancy prosecutors ‘squeeze’ timeline from ex-husband as jury weighs ‘murder versus madness’: expert
Army conducts first overseas test of ‘Hammer of the Gods’ weapon-disrupting system
Grandmother’s missed pickup leads to grim discovery in church parking lot
Clinton, Obama-era Democratic heavyweights Penn and Emanuel rip NYC’s Mamdani over taxes, Israel, blast DSA
Revealed: The DNC Lost Almost $30k to Email Scammer – No Word Yet if the Employee Was DEI or the Scammer Was a Deposed Nigerian Prince
Sanders has been a vocal supporter of tough measures to combat climate change, an issue that has garnered Thunberg worldwide notoriety.
At one point during the exchange, the fake Thunberg proposes to record a hip-hop song with Sanders, singer Billie Eilish and rapper Kanye West.
The pranksters then say they are slated to visit Russia and need advice on how to behave.
“I think what you don’t want to do is simply walk in there and get used,” Sanders said. “Russia and [President Vladimir] Putin has been very bad, as far as I know, on climate change. They have a lot of oil, oil is important for their economy, they make a lot of money on oil.”
The fake Thunberg than tells the senator that he was recruited by the KGB in 1988 when he visited Russia and has since been a “sleeper agent.”
“Now it’s time to wake up and fulfill your mission, become president of the United States, build communism in the United States and work for Russia!” the prankster said before Sanders hung up.
The call is part of the duo’s “Stars Save the Earth” project in which they place calls to politicians and celebrities pretending to be Thunberg.
“Many laugh at Bernie Sanders [and say] that he is a KGB agent and wants to build communism in the U.S. Since he calls himself a democratic socialist, we decided to play up this topic — the topic of Sanders being a recruited Russian agent,” Kuznetsov said.
Capitol sex scandals spark push to ban House lawmakers from sleeping with staffers
We Have Receipts: Four Years Ago, Fauci Said ‘Nothing to Hide,’ ‘Very Happy to Testify’ Before Congress
Can Fauci hide behind the Fifth? Game-changing Biden pardon may not provide complete cover, experts say
Watch: Seattle Top Cop Gives Absurd New Name to Criminal Gangs, Confirms He Was at Black Conference in Texas During Seattle Mass Shooting
‘Woke’ Smithsonian exhibit lionizes embattled Fauci amid conservative scrutiny of museum’s messaging
Trump accused China of an ‘election security nightmare’ but then undercut his own warning
Here’s What We Know About Key Questions Fauci Refused to Answer
How the Big Beautiful Bill became law: Trump the closer
Man sentenced to 6 months in jail for ramming car into Jewish group’s world headquarters in New York
Trump admin invokes 30-year dormant terror court as it seeks to deport Afghan woman tied to Election Day plot
Lindsay Clancy prosecutors ‘squeeze’ timeline from ex-husband as jury weighs ‘murder versus madness’: expert
Army conducts first overseas test of ‘Hammer of the Gods’ weapon-disrupting system
Grandmother’s missed pickup leads to grim discovery in church parking lot
Clinton, Obama-era Democratic heavyweights Penn and Emanuel rip NYC’s Mamdani over taxes, Israel, blast DSA
Revealed: The DNC Lost Almost $30k to Email Scammer – No Word Yet if the Employee Was DEI or the Scammer Was a Deposed Nigerian Prince
The pair has pranked other U.S. politicians in recent months. They fooled Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., last year into thinking he was speaking with Turkey’s defense minister. Graham relayed President Trump’s interest in economic and military cooperation between the U.S. and Turkey.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was a victim in 2018 when the radio shock jocks posed as Andriy Parubiy, the former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament. During the call, Schiff said he would be willing to accept information damaging to Trump.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was also tricked by the pranksters when she was tricked into thinking she speaking with Thunberg and that she had dirt on Trump.
Story cited here.
