huge.
>> General Zwack, appreciate
your perspective, sir.
Thank you.
>>> Last month, we learned the
federal reserve chairman Jerome
Powell was tricked by a fake
call from Russian pranksters.
Powell discussed global politics
and the economy with someone he
thought was the Ukrainian
president zelenskyy.
Turns out they were Russian
supporters of Putin who
previously pranked other
influential officials.
CNN's Matthew chance had a
chance to speak with the
pranksters and investigate the
motive behind their tricks.
Take a look.
>> They're notorious pro-kremlin
pranksters.
The Ukraine war has given them a
new focus and new victims to
deceive.
>> Look who's there, Mr.
President.
>> Like George W. Bush, who
thought he was speaking with the
Ukrainian president, who had
supposedly called to discuss the
western military alliance.
>> You always wanted to take
Ukraine into nato, not Russia,
but Ukraine, always, as I
remember.
>> That's right.
You see, I felt Ukraine needed
to be in the eu and in nato.
[ Speaking non-english ]
>> Reporter: A Russian official
later told the pranksters it
revealed the truth about
long-time U.S. Ambitions to
distance Russia from Ukraine.
>> I'm glad you're not prank
calling me now.
>> Reporter: In getting to the
truth, what would otherwise be
left unspoken is what the
pranksters told me they are all
about.
[ Speaking non-english ]
>> Translator: First, it's about
what this person is really like,
how a president of a country
behaves in an informal
conversation.
We're interested in getting more
honest answers than we would in
an ordinary public interview.
>> One of the criticisms that is
leveled against you is that
you're always, you know,
sympathetic to the Kremlin point
of view.
Let me ask you directly, are you
working at the behest of the
Kremlin to expose foreign
officials or opponents of the
Russian authorities?
>> Translator: In general, it's
wrong to say that we are
pro-kremlin.
We're more pro-Russian
pranksters, since this is our
country that we love and worry
about.
You say that we only call those
who are against the Kremlin, but
the issue is that Russia simply
doesn't have many friends now.
>> Reporter: Ukraine, on
the other hand, has many,
especially in Washington, and
posing as volodymyr zelenskyy,
the Ukrainian president, has
gotten the Russian pranksters
results.
>> Just say it's a great honor
to speak to you.
>> Reporter: With influential
figures like the chair of the
U.S. Federal reserve, who
thought it was the real
president zelenskyy quizzing him
on the global economy and
suggesting the fed let Ukraine
print its own U.S. Dollars to
fund the war with Russia.
>> If you could present me
printing press, I would be
really happy.
>> We have one of those, but we
keep it in the basement.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Again, I know you're going to
be dependent on a lot of help
from the west and from the
United States.
♪♪
>> Reporter: It's not just U.S.
Officials being pranked.
>> We would like to continue the
nuclear program in order to
protect ourselves from Russia.
>> Reporter: Britain's defense
minister was taken aback when
who he thought was Ukraine's
prime minister floated the idea
of nuclear weapons.
>> I think more than being
neutral, Russia would really
hate that.
>> For sure.
We know this.
>> Reporter: The British
government condemned the prank
as straight from the Kremlin
playbook.
>> Why haven't you prank called
prominent people in Russia, like
Vladimir Putin, like the head of
the chechen republic, like
prigozhin, the head of Wagner?
Why aren't you crank calling
those people to expose the truth
about them?
>> Make a disaster in our
country because such calls could
make damage in our current
situation.
>> But you're not worried about
the danger and the risks of
doing what you do in other
societies?
>> That could hurt our society,
of course.
>> Reporter: But the truth is,
really powerful Russians would
never tolerate being pranked in
this way.
They would simply be unable to
get away with duping a Kremlin
that's cracked down hard on
dissent, whereas Russia's
enemies in the west, especially
in the U.S., are considered fair
game.
>> Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
>> Thank you very much.