Washington (CNN) Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was pranked by two Russians pretending to be Turkey's minister of defense in an August phone call, his office said on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Graham confirmed to CNN that the South Carolina Republican spoke with Russian pranksters Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov in a conversation he thought was with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

"We have been successful in stopping many efforts to prank Senator Graham and the office, but this one slipped through the cracks," Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop said. "They got him."

According to audio of the call provided to Politico , Graham calls the Kurds a "threat" to Turkey -- a label that appears to contradict his public statements in recent days regarding President Donald Trump's decision to pull American troops out of the way of a Turkish invasion of Syria. The attack has been widely condemned by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for putting American allies, such as the Kurds, in harm's way.

"Your YPG Kurdish problem is a big problem," Graham told the pranksters in reference to the Kurdish People's Protection Units. Politico reports the pranksters have suspected ties to Russian intelligence.

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