© AlamyA leaked recording purporting to be of envoys joking about adding Scotland, Alaska and Venice to Russia's conquest of Crimea is the latest salvo in the war of dirty tricks over Ukraine The conversation features two voices said to be Igor Chubarov, the ambassador to Eritrea, and Sergei Bakharev, the ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi
The expletive ridden conversation posted on Youtube features two voices said to be Igor Chubarov, the ambassador to Eritrea, and Sergei Bakharev, the ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The voice labelled as Mr Chubarov's congratulates Mr Bakharev on persuading Zimbabwe to back Russia's position on Crimea at the UN, and goes on to joke about telling a European diplomat about future conquests.
"We've got Crimea, but that's not ----ing all, folks. In the future we'll take you ----ing Catalonia, Venice, as well as Scotland and Alaska," the voice says.
The pair go on to add Miami and London to their hit list, noting that "Miamiland' is ----ing 95 percent Russian citizens."
The YouTube posting follows the leaks of at least two embarrassing conversations involving European and American officials that US officials have blamed on the Russian intelligence services.
The latest recording has not been authenticated. Maria Zakharova, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, said on her Facebook page that she did not know who was speaking, but said one of the photographs on the video was actually of another ambassador who died a year ago.
She also criticised the subtitles for substituting a single English expletive for much fruitier and varied Russian expressions.
American fast food chains meanwhile became a new front in the deepening diplomatic crisis between the United States and Russia after a firebrand MP called for every McDonald's restaurant in the country to be closed.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic party, said his members would picket McDonald's across the country and seek to get all of the over 400 outlets in Russia closed in response to what he called an attempt to "punish" Russia for the annexation of Crimea.
The unlikely turn of events came after McDonalds, which runs over 400 restaurants in Russia, said it was temporarily closing its three outlets in Crimea.
The company, which runs three restaurants in Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Yalta, said in a statement on Friday that they would be closing temporarily for "manufacturing reasons" beyond the company's control.
While the company promised to reopen the restaurants as soon as possible, its also offered its Crimean staff jobs at any other outlets in mainland Ukraine, suggesting it does not expect to return to business as usual in the foreseeable future.
"McDonalds closed their outlets in Crimea. Very well. We'll close the rest. I've given instructions to all city divisions of the Liberal Democratic Party to hold pickets at every McDonalds," Mr Zhirinovsky said on Friday.
"It's muck, why poison our citizens?" Mr Zhirinovsky added in the outburst.
McDonalds opened its first outlet in Moscow in 1991, and by last year it had over 400 restaurants across the country.
While Mr Zhirinovsky is widely views as the court jester of Russian politics, his trademark outbursts are occasionally used as trial balloons for schemes that do eventually become policy.
And he signalled that once he had dealt with McDonalds, other iconic American food brands may also have to watch out, adding: "then we'll deal with Pepsi."
McDonalds is the second foreign company to suspend operations in Crimea since its formal annexation by Russia last month.
On Thursday Deutsche Post, the German postal company, said it was no longer accepting letters for Crimea because delivery to the region could not be guaranteed.
The announcement came as Angela Merkel sought to distance herself from comments by her veteran finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, comparing Vladimir Putin's take over of Crimea with Hitler's invasion of the Sudetenland in 1938.
Mr Schauble, a member of Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, made the comparison during a conversation with Berlin school children earlier this week.
"We know this from history. Hitler used such methods in Sudetenland - and a lot more," he told them.
The comments caused fury in Moscow, where the Crimean adventure has been cast as a move to save the region from fascism.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador to complain on Thursday, describing the comments as a "pseudo-historical excursion" and "a crude distortion of historical events and facts."
In Germany the leader of the country's Left Party, Bernd Reixinger demanded that Mr Schauble apologise to Russia for his " tasteless" remarks. Ralf Stegner, a senior Social Democrat MP described the finance minister's comparison as " definitely not useful".
Chancellor Merkel has said that the annexation of Crimea is in clear breach of international law. However she has distanced herself from Mr Schauble's comparision and insisted that it is an action which "stands for itself."
Mr Schauble told the German television channel ARD on Thursday: " I am not so stupid as to compare someone with Hitler." He said his remarks had been quoted "in isolation" and out of context.
How can this be even be called a tit-for-tat when it's most definitely a prank. A funny one too!