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Russian Foreign Ministry April Fool’s Prank ‘Press 3 For Election Interference’

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 07:53 PST, Apr 1, 2017

The Russian Foreign Ministry really got into the April Fool’s Day spirit with an epic, trolling prank targeting last year’s American election. Taking to Facebook on April 1, the Russian Ministry posted a new audio file that was labeled as a new automated switchboard message that incoming callers to Russian embassies would be greeted with.

As CBS News reports, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s April Fool’s prank message can be heard in both English and Russian, and it directs callers to press 1, 2, or 3, depending on the services they require. The services available according to the prank? They range from a call to a political opponent made by a Russian diplomat to straight-up election interference.

Obviously, the Kremlin is poking some fun at the recent American political drama that recently cost Michael Flynn his job and which have dogged Donald Trump since before Inauguration Day. Congress is still investigation Trump and his campaign’s alleged Russian ties, and Russia had a April Fool’s Day laugh over the situation in Washington D.C.

“To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press 1, press 2 to use the services of Russian hackers, and press 3 to request election interference.”

Check out the post, which was also released on Twitter, below. The first nearly 30 seconds are spoken in Russian, followed by an English translation of the hilarious and timely prank. The title of the Foreign Ministry’s post is published in Russian, with the English translation being, “Answering machine for Russian diplomatic missions.”

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin has wholeheartedly and vehemently denied that Russia ever meddled or otherwise influenced the 2016 American presidential election cycle. Despite his denials, the American people and many elected officials have pushed for a full investigation into alleged Russian collusion and interference, and even the Russian government’s alleged ties to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.

The reaction to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s relevant and somewhat scathing April Fool’s Day prank on social media has been largely positive, with many taking to Twitter to share their feelings about nearly unheard of level of trolling the daring prank unleashed on the American government.

Not everyone, however, thought the ministry prank was appropriate or funny. At least one CNN reporter found the joke to be in bad taste, and an attempt to “laugh off” serious allegations of election interference.

As USA Today reports, Vladimir Putin doubled down on his denial of election meddling once more just this week. The Russian President spoke out about allegations of interference just days before his Foreign Ministry decided to politicize April Fool’s Day.

“Read my lips – NO!”

The Russian Foreign Ministry isn’t the only organization that people are eyeballing this April Fool’s Day. Some people think that this year’s level of pranking may have reached an unheard of level and may even involve April the giraffe and her weeks-long labor. As Inside Edition reports, some armchair conspiracy theorists believe that the folks at the Animal Adventure Park may have pulled an elaborate April Fool’s prank on the entire country and that April may not even be pregnant at all.

Many have taken to Twitter to call out the private zoo, which announced within the last couple of days that April would likely give birth on April Fool’s Day, and accuse its owners of faking out America.

Despite the speculation, the Animal Adventure Park has assured the world that April really is pregnant and not part of the biggest and most effective April Fool’s prank in American history.

As for the Russian Foreign Ministry, they aren’t denying that they used April Fool’s Day to troll both the American people and the country’s politicians. Reportedly, and unidentified Russian duty officer has confirmed that the epic social media post is not just an April Fool’s Day prank, but an “official joke.”

[Featured Image by Valentina Petrova/AP Images]

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