Finland's Foreign Minister talks about Ukraine crisis during prank call

Finland's Foreign Affairs Ministry launched an investigation into the incident of a prank call with the participation of Russian pranksters Vovan (Vladimir Kuznetsov) and Lexus (Alexey Stolyarov) who exposed the recording of their conversation with Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen.

The pranksters called the Foreign Minister of Finland and introduced themselves as African politicians. During the conversation with them, the minister spoke about the conflict in Ukraine and assessed a possibility for the deployment of nuclear arms on the territory of Finland.

The Finnish authorities initiated the investigation in less than 12 hours after the prank call with the Foreign Minister. Vovan and Lexus called Valtonen on behalf of an African politician.

The ministry emphasised that the video call did not arouse suspicion, whereas the Foreign Minister did not voice any confidential information during the conversation.

When talking to the pranksters about the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Valtonen said that it was progressing slowly. The minister also noted that Finland was supplying as much equipment and technology for Ukraine's defence and military needs as it could. The Finnish Foreign Miniter also said that Finland could not transfer F-18 fighters to Ukraine as the country needs to protect its border.

During the conversation, Valtonen stated that Finland had no plans to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory.

"According to the current legislation, it is prohibited even to store any nuclear weapons on the territory of Finland. And this is probably not in our interests, at least not in the near future,” she said.

Vovan and Lexus are Russian pranksters who prank politicians, cultural figures and other famous personalities over the phone. They spoke with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, singer Elton John and writer JK Rowling.

In 2022, Vovan and Lexus often called Western and Ukrainian politicians. During such conversations, the pranksters received confidential information about the situation in Ukraine and the participation of Western countries in the conflict. For example, in October, Ukrainian politician Sergei Pashinsky said that the United States was in control of all operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.