Australian parliamentarians and their staff are being urged to be much more alert to Kremlin misinformation and propaganda after two high-profile pro-Putin comedians released a video of a prank on senators.
The Russian pair, one appearing in a bathrobe, initially tricked a parliamentary committee last year into thinking they were close supporters of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
They quipped about why the senators were not upside down in Australia, questioned which way the water flowed down the drain, apparently claimed Russian oligarchs were smuggling native animals including platypuses, and mentioned sexual assault allegations and masturbation in the federal parliament, before producing sock puppets and brandishing a toy fish.
