A pair of Russian prank callers known for duping influential leaders targeted Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, his office said on Wednesday, pointing the finger at the Kremlin.
Comedians "Vovan and Lexus" have in the past posed as the likes of environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg or French President Emmanuel Macron to trick people including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pop star Elton John and the UK's Prince Harry.
Kurti fell prey shortly after Kosovo's legislative elections of February 9, in which his party received the most votes, "at a time where the prime minister Kurti was receiving many messages of congratulation", his office said in a statement.
In the video posted online by the pranksters, real names Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, Kurti can be heard replying to one of the pair, who was posing as Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics.
In it, Kurti slams "a hybrid war against our government" which "comes principally from Serbia and Russia but also from some of their elements in Kosovo", which Belgrade has refused to recognise following the former Serbian province's declaration of independence.
The Kosovar leader can also be heard complaining that US President Donald Trump's special envoy Richard Grenell "played a starring role in the overthrow of my government" in 2020, adding that "now, he is very much aligning himself with the opposition."
The scam's revelation comes at a delicate time for Kurti.
Though his party won the most seats in February's ballot, it lacks an absolute majority in parliament and faces weeks if not months of coalition talks.
Kurti's office blamed the Kremlin for the prank call.
"This regrettable incident reinforces what we have known for a long time: Russia is obsessed with Kosovo and continues to target our country," it said.