Members of the standing committee for Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives thought they were having a video conversation with the chief of staff of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last Wednesday. It turned out to be a deep fake imitation, confirms the registry of the Chamber on Friday de Volkskrant.
The parliamentary committee thought that he saw Leonid Volkov in front of him via Zoom, from Lithuania, where he works because of the Russian repression of the Navalny organization. However, it was not Volkov, but a so-called deepfake: a disguise of someone else’s head created by artificial intelligence.
The committee, which includes prominent MPs such as Geert Wilders (PVV), Gert-Jan Segers (ChristenUnie) and Tunahan Kuzu (DENK), confirms in a statement to de Volkskrant talking to a deepfake imitation. The committee says it is outraged and has offered the real Volkov another interview.
Parliamentarians from the United Kingdom and various Baltic countries were also fooled by the fake Volkov.
It is not yet known exactly how the digital meeting came about. The Lower House has announced that it will investigate how such incidents can be prevented in the future.
Navalny ends hunger strike
Navalny is currently serving a 2.5-year prison sentence. His conviction is seen internationally as politically motivated: Navalny is the greatest tormentor of authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny has been on a hunger strike in recent weeks to protest his medical treatment in the prison camp. He announced on Friday that he would end his hunger strike on doctor’s advice. The Russian authorities want to classify his political organization as extremist and are cracking down on Navalny’s supporters.
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