Polish radio RMF reported the dismissal of office employee Andrzej Duda due to a call from Russian pranksters. The office itself denies this

The director of the international policy department of the Office of the President of Poland, Piotr Gillert, was fired because of a telephone conversation between Polish leader Andrzej Duda and Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus. This was announced by an employee of the Polish radio station RMF Roch Kowalski, citing "unofficial information".

Gillert was responsible for the relations of the President of Poland with representatives of other countries.

Updated . Jakub Kumoch, secretary of the Office of the President of Poland , said that Gillert's departure had been planned for a long time and had nothing to do with Duda's conversation with the pranksters.

Pranksters Vovan and Lexus (real names Vladimir Kuznetsov and Aleksey Stolyarov) called Duda on November 15, the day the rocket fell in the Polish village of Przewoduv on the border with Ukraine. Duda's interlocutor introduced himself to him as French leader Emmanuel Macron. Duda told him that he was "very cautious" and did not want a war with Russia.

Later, the Office of the President of Poland confirmed his conversation with one of the pranksters, noting that Duda suspected a trick "due to the caller's unusual behavior" and ended the conversation.

The office conducted an investigation and came to the conclusion that during the conversation between Duda and the prankster, the security procedure was not followed. According to her, before telephone conversations of the President of Poland, employees of his office should contact the government or at least the embassy of the country that requests the conversation.

This procedure, according to RMF , was introduced after the pranksters Vovan and Lexus were able to contact Duda for the first time. This happened in 2020, when they posed as UN Secretary General António Guterres.