VT Foreign Policy by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
Russian comedians commonly known as Vovan and Lexus, played a prank on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In a telephone conversation, they posed as a senior African official with whom Meloni felt comfortable enough to make certain revelations that she might not have otherwise in a public setting.
Despite saying otherwise in Parliament and making public statements, Meloni is heard saying in the 13-minute audio of the call that there is “a lot of fatigue” on all sides regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
Although released online on November 1 by Vovan and Lexus, the call, with what she believed was a senior African Union official, dates to September 18, the day before the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Her office later admitted that she “had been deceived.” …
