The recordings, containing what appear to be heavily edited conversations between Biden and Poroshenko while in office, were published by a Ukrainian associate of
Rudy Giuliani in an apparent attempt to embarrass the politicians and dent Biden’s presidential run against Donald Trump in the 2020 elections.
The tapes contain few revelations and their provenance remains murky. Still, Trump allies have sought to leverage them to revive scrutiny, as well as conspiracy theories, about Biden’s ties to
Ukraine ahead of the 2020 elections.
Poroshenko on Wednesday called the leaked audio “fabricated” and a Biden spokesman told the Washington Post were “heavily edited … and it’s still a nothingburger that landed with a thud”.
Andrii Derkach, the Giuliani ally, claimed to have received the tapes from investigative journalists. Opponents have pointed at the lawmaker’s ties to Russia. Derkach is a former MP for the pro-Russian Party of Regions faction and attended a KGB-run high school in Moscow. His father was a former KGB officer and then headed Ukraine’s intelligence service.
In the edited conversations, Biden apparently ties the delivery of $1bn in aid to Ukraine to Poroshenko firing
Viktor Shokin, a former general prosecutor widely considered to be corrupt. In another, the two discuss the potential appointment of his successor, Yuri Lutsenko.
These are straight forward KGB strategem from friends of Trump within the KGB disinformat handbook.