It happened last week when Rick Perry received a phone call from someone he believed to be the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman. He went on to chat with the “prime minister” using a translation service for just over 22 minutes, totally unaware that he had been well and truly pranked by Russian comedians.

It turned out Perry was chatting to two Russians, well known for their pranks, and it could potentially have been a serious security risk, especially due to the fact that, as noted (repeatedly) by Gizmodo, Perry is in charge of nuclear security in the U.S.

Russian pranksters fool Rick Perry

Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov (whose nicknames are Lexus and Vovan) totally fooled Perry as he spoke to them about American companies in future supplying Ukraine with coal and the natural gas, fortunately without elaborating too much on how he was planning to do this. However, he did say the conversation about coal is currently with Wilbur Ross, the Secretary of Commerce and he suspects the supply to Ukraine will go forward.

Perry discusses the Paris Climate Accord with Russian comedians

Perry also went on to mention the Paris Climate Accord, standing by Trump in his administration’s decision to pull the U.S.

out, despite the fact that the international community believes this withdrawal to be absurd. Perry said Trump had made the decision that the cost for the U.S. to be in accord was not in the country’s best interests.

A new ‘biofuel’ of home-brewed alcohol and pig manure is discussed

The two pranksters went on to tell Perry that Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko has been involved in the development of a new biofuel, which they said had been brewed from alcohol and pig manure.

Totally believing the story, the energy secretary then went on to say he was looking forward to meeting with their president for a more in-depth briefing on the biofuel. He said if it works, the Ukrainian president was going to be a “wealthy and successful man.”

The Washington Post spoke with Shaylyn Hynes, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy, who told them the two Russian comedians are well-known for their pranks on celebrities and high-level officials, especially when those latter persons support an agenda which is not in line with their governments.

In the latest case with Perry, it related to Ukraine’s energy security. Kuznetsov and Stolyarov certainly managed to make it sound serious and “professional” as they successfully pranked Perry.

In 2015 they pulled a prank on singer Elton John while posing as Russian president Vladimir Putin. This call was made shortly after John had criticized Putin’s stance on LGBT issues.

Any readers who have almost 23 minutes to spare can enjoy the call between the pranksters and Perry below. Regrettably, the Russian side of the conversation has no English subtitles.