OPCW Confirms Russian Pranksters Tricked Director-General During Recent Call

15:57 GMT, 24 April 2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed to Sputnik on Tuesday that the organization's director-general, Ahmet Uzumcu, was tricked by Russian pranksters into discussing global chemical weapons incidents over the phone.

Sputnik

On Monday, Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov (known as Vovan and Lexus), released a record of their conversation with who they claimed was Uzumcu. According to the record, one of the pranksters presented himself as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and had a conversation with the OPCW chief on a number of issues, including the alleged chemical weapons attack in Duma and the Salisbury probe.

"Of course, it is unfortunate that this has occurred. The audio and the transcript demonstrates that the Director-General is extremely clear and consistent in his explanation of the important and expert work of the OPCW whether he is talking to OPCW Member States, a Prime Minister or a prankster," the statement read.

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The pranksters claimed that Uzumcu had told them that the A234 nerve agent, which was supposedly used to poison former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK town of Salisbury, could have been manufactured in any country with a high degree of chemistry expertise. As for the situation in Syria, Uzumcu said that Moscow was creating no obstacles for the OPCW experts in the Syrian town of Douma as they conduct work in the wake of an alleged chemical weapons attack earlier this month.