Kyrgyzstan detains suspect involved in prank call to Ukrainian leader

Kyrgyzstan's security services have detained a local man suspected of being in contact with the pretended Kyrgyz president in a prank call to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

On Nov. 2, Ukrainian President's press office published information about a telephone conversation between Poroshenko and his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev.

The two leaders discussed over phone urgent issues of Ukrainian-Kyrgyz relations, in particular, the importance of holding the next meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission, the problems of supply of Ukrainian products to Kyrgyzstan as a result of Russian transit restrictions against Ukrainian goods and many other issues, the report said.

Shortly afterwards, Kyrgyz President's office denied that Atambayev had talked to Poroshenko.

"Perhaps somebody played a trick on the Ukrainian leader," said Sapar Isakov, chief of the foreign policy department.

Poroshenko's spokesman Svyatoslav Tzegolo accused the Russian state security service of plotting the prank call, adding that such a trick was impossible without the participation of Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has assisted the pranksters.

Meanwhile, Russian prankster Alexei Stolyarov told Russian media that the arrest of their accomplices was absurd, saying "Kyrgyzstan was not involved here."

The detainee was taken into custody to ascertain the circumstances of the case, Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Ministry said in its official statement.

The two sides have agreed to conduct a joint investigation of the case, according to a telephone conversation between Erlan Abdyldaev, Kyrgyzstan's foreign minister, and his Ukrainian counterpart Pavel Klimkin. Endi