The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach was the victim of Russian phone hoaxes, the IOC said today (21/3), as relations between the Olympic Committee and Russia worsen after the country’s athletes were banned from marching in the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics due to of the war in Ukraine.

The IOC announced that there were fake calls to the Olympic body and its president, with the callers posing as representatives of the African Union Commission, who wanted to discuss the situation with Russia.

“There appears to have been a new incident in the Russian disinformation and smear campaign against the International Olympic Committee and its president“, the IOC said in a statement.

“Hoax calls purporting to be from the African Union Commission appear to have been made by the same group that has already attacked many world political leaders and other high-profile figures in the same ways”.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in September spoke of international fatigue with the conflict in Ukraine in a phone call with Russian pranksters, who have tricked other Western politicians and celebrities in an attempt to stir up trouble with the statements they were making.

“During the phone calls, a person pretending to be the chairman of the African Union Commission requested specific arguments from the IOC against the Russian government’s politicization of sport in order to prepare a statement,” the IOC said. .

The IOC did not provide details of the talks, nor did it say how many calls had been made.