Alleged Klitschko phone call: Giffey falls for “Deep Fake” – “War is being waged by all means”

Created: 06/25/2022, 06:52

By: Kathrin Reikowski

Franziska Giffey (SPD) made a video call to an alleged Vitali Klitschko.

© Screenshot State Chancellery Berlin (Twitter)

Berlin's governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) has apparently become the victim of a "deep fake".

She has to endure malice online.

Berlin - A phone call between Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) and Kiev's Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who maintains contact with international politicians during the Ukraine war: The Berlin Senate had announced this for Friday evening (June 24).

In the evening, however, the Twitter account said: "Regarding the announced conversation with Mayor Klitschko: The course of the conversation and the setting of the topic have caused distrust on the Berlin side.

The conversation ended prematurely.”

"The first quarter of an hour was completely unremarkable," said Senate spokeswoman Lisa Frerichs afterwards.

"The supposed Mr. Klitschko asked how we are doing with the many Ukrainian refugees, how we deal with them, what the numbers are, a completely normal conversation, as we expected." The conversation via video conference on the topic of cooperation between the two cities had been agreed long beforehand.

Ukraine-News: Giffey becomes suspicious during phone call with alleged Klitschko

But then some issues were raised that made Giffey suspicious.

"One time it was about the fact that he referred to an alleged conversation with Ambassador (Andriy) Melnyk and asked how we see it that so many Ukrainians wanted to sneak social benefits in Berlin," said Frerichs.

"And there was a request that we, through our authorities, support young men in particular going 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 align 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.

Senate Chancellery assumes "Deep Fake": Malice on the net for Giffey's employees

The Senate Chancellery assumes digital manipulation: "Apparently we are dealing with deep fakes," said Frerichs.

There was no indication that he was not speaking to a real person.

"Someone sat across from us who looked exactly like Vitali Klitschko, who moved like that." The police have now been called in.

"Deep Fakes" are sophisticated technical manipulations that can often only be uncovered by experts.

The Berlin city government has to endure malice online: "Hasn't the planned appointment been checked?" asks a user.

Others consider the incident typical of Berlin – and are curious to see whether the content of the conversation will be made public.

“Early, after 40 minutes?

Nobody noticed that before or even checked it?” Another user wants to know.

The Senate Chancellery said on Twitter on Friday that a conversation with Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, confirmed that Giffey was not connected to Klitschko.

"Unfortunately, it is part of the reality that the war is being waged by any means necessary," Giffey is quoted as saying in the tweet.

"Also online, to use digital methods to undermine trust and to discredit Ukraine's partners and allies."