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| A Hoax Plot, Cloaked in a Ukrainian Interview | A Hoax Plot, Cloaked in a Ukrainian Interview |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The intrigue began last week when The New York Times received a letter on official-looking stationery marked “President of Ukraine.” | The intrigue began last week when The New York Times received a letter on official-looking stationery marked “President of Ukraine.” |
| The letter was addressed to the paper’s executive editor, Dean Baquet (though he was referred to as Mr. Baquet Dean), and complained about an editorial that faulted President Petro O. Poroshenko for failing to make good on pledges to prosecute corruption. The letter was forwarded to the newspaper’s editorial board, which writes editorials. | The letter was addressed to the paper’s executive editor, Dean Baquet (though he was referred to as Mr. Baquet Dean), and complained about an editorial that faulted President Petro O. Poroshenko for failing to make good on pledges to prosecute corruption. The letter was forwarded to the newspaper’s editorial board, which writes editorials. |
| “I would like to respectfully request a telephone conference with you personally in order to attempt to convince you that opinions published in the article are without merit,” the letter read, finishing with the neat, curlicued signature of Mr. Poroshenko. | “I would like to respectfully request a telephone conference with you personally in order to attempt to convince you that opinions published in the article are without merit,” the letter read, finishing with the neat, curlicued signature of Mr. Poroshenko. |
| A conference call with the editorial board was set up on Monday. The complainer’s comments were so suspect that the Times participants, including some newsroom journalists listening in, declined to publish an article on the matter, but instead began to investigate. | A conference call with the editorial board was set up on Monday. The complainer’s comments were so suspect that the Times participants, including some newsroom journalists listening in, declined to publish an article on the matter, but instead began to investigate. |
| On Wednesday, however, edited audio of the call was mysteriously posted on YouTube, and the Times participants found themselves caught up in an apparent propaganda war between Russia, which is backing separatist forces in Ukraine, and Ukraine’s government. | On Wednesday, however, edited audio of the call was mysteriously posted on YouTube, and the Times participants found themselves caught up in an apparent propaganda war between Russia, which is backing separatist forces in Ukraine, and Ukraine’s government. |
| The call, said Carol Giacomo, an editorial writer, was odd “because the more we got into it, the more we had questions.” | The call, said Carol Giacomo, an editorial writer, was odd “because the more we got into it, the more we had questions.” |
| “The guy who was supposedly Poroshenko was in the background, and we couldn’t hear him very clearly, and the translator’s voice was dominant,” she said. | “The guy who was supposedly Poroshenko was in the background, and we couldn’t hear him very clearly, and the translator’s voice was dominant,” she said. |
| The translator told the journalists that the president, who has been identified as an account holder in the Panama Papers revelations about offshore accounts, had $500 million stashed in them. | The translator told the journalists that the president, who has been identified as an account holder in the Panama Papers revelations about offshore accounts, had $500 million stashed in them. |
| The translator also quoted the voice identified as Mr. Poroshenko’s as saying he did not want to return the money to his country, in part because he did not want to pay taxes on it. | The translator also quoted the voice identified as Mr. Poroshenko’s as saying he did not want to return the money to his country, in part because he did not want to pay taxes on it. |
| That assertion was so outlandish, said Michael Slackman, international managing editor for The Times, that it helped confirm suspicions about the veracity of their interview. | That assertion was so outlandish, said Michael Slackman, international managing editor for The Times, that it helped confirm suspicions about the veracity of their interview. |
| The people on the Ukraine end of the phone call spoke in Russian — unusual for senior Ukrainian officials. The signature on the letter, it turned out, was identical to a Google image result for Mr. Poroshenko’s signature. The email address for his press officer was a Gmail account. Further, Mr. Poroshenko speaks fluent English and regularly conducts interviews with foreign journalists in that language. | |
| When a Times journalist, Andrew E. Kramer, called the press office telephone number provided on the email, the man who answered, who identified himself as Sergei Panfilov, spoke Russian with a pronounced Moscow accent. | When a Times journalist, Andrew E. Kramer, called the press office telephone number provided on the email, the man who answered, who identified himself as Sergei Panfilov, spoke Russian with a pronounced Moscow accent. |
| At first he stuck to his story, that the Ukraine president’s office had contacted The Times. When Mr. Kramer pressed further, Mr. Panfilov “admitted it was a hoax,” Mr. Kramer said. “He said that Mr. Poroshenko’s office was upset” with the editorial “and wanted to ‘discredit’ The New York Times, and had thus hired him to stage the fake interview.” | At first he stuck to his story, that the Ukraine president’s office had contacted The Times. When Mr. Kramer pressed further, Mr. Panfilov “admitted it was a hoax,” Mr. Kramer said. “He said that Mr. Poroshenko’s office was upset” with the editorial “and wanted to ‘discredit’ The New York Times, and had thus hired him to stage the fake interview.” |
| But the president’s actual press office, which has its own email address and a different phone number, denied having anything to do with the hoax attempt and offered its own theory. | But the president’s actual press office, which has its own email address and a different phone number, denied having anything to do with the hoax attempt and offered its own theory. |
| “In our opinion,” a press aide, Yarema Dukh, wrote in an email, “this bizarre situation is a distasteful attempt to attack both reputation of New York Times and President Poroshenko.” The president’s office presumes, Mr. Dukh wrote, that the pranksters were “connected to some Russian official bodies and executing their orders.” In a separate post on Facebook, another aide blamed “Russian special services” for the failed hoax. | “In our opinion,” a press aide, Yarema Dukh, wrote in an email, “this bizarre situation is a distasteful attempt to attack both reputation of New York Times and President Poroshenko.” The president’s office presumes, Mr. Dukh wrote, that the pranksters were “connected to some Russian official bodies and executing their orders.” In a separate post on Facebook, another aide blamed “Russian special services” for the failed hoax. |
| There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Russian authorities in Moscow late Wednesday night. | There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Russian authorities in Moscow late Wednesday night. |