https://sputniknews.in/20260805/brilliancy-of-prank-two-russians-to-fear-or-admire-11873194.html
Brilliancy of Prank: Two Russians to Fear (Or Admire)
Brilliancy of Prank: Two Russians to Fear (Or Admire)
Sputnik India
Two Russian prankers became indisputable heroes of the week, giving an interview to this agency and to a couple of newspapers. After which everybody is... 05.08.2026, Sputnik India
2026-08-05T14:32+0530
2026-08-05T14:32+0530
2026-08-05T14:32+0530
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It is all about the inner machinery of Americano-Izraeli war in the Gulf, naturally. Our Russian scammers called Reza, with one of them pretending to be an advisor to the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The conversation was about Germany’s future attack on Iran so as to put Reza on the throne. He took it absolutely seriously and advised Germany to bomb and bomb his motherland into total submission. To note, at the first stage of that war, in March, the heir was supposed to be America’s favorite for the oncoming change of government in Tehran. Now, and especially after the Russian prank, his popularity went seriously down.Who are the two prankers who ruined his reputation? What’s most important about them is, dumb clowns they are not. Here we have two brilliant and super-educated personalities, representing the best in the Russian nation.Their stage names, Vovan and Lexus, have been borrowed from the language of street gangs. But, in real life, we are talking about Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, age 38 and 39. They have four university degrees for them two, namely in law (both of them), economics and journalism. They speak several languages. And they have deep knowledge about contemporary international politics, with its personalities and its underwater currents. In fact, these two could easily enter Russia’s Foreign Service, being absolutely eligible for that.But, still, prankers they are, prank being their profession. If you don’t know how it works, a pranker is calling a famous person, pretending to be someone else, and gradually makes the dialogue openly idiotic, until the moment the victim finally realizes what’s going on. The conversation is being recorded and, subsequently, presented to a happy audience.Vovan and Lexus started their career in around 2010, selecting their victims, initially, among the stars of show business and Russian politicians. It was always wildly funny. First they used the recordings of these merciless interrogations for their own website, then the TV invited them to launch their own special channel. Needless to say, our two gentlemen earned some money on that, and also popularity and good reputation. They also accumulated equipment and skilled staff to obtain telephone numbers of potential victims, and all such.Russia is famous for its special kind of humor, and I’d say it is as good as the British one, or maybe better. A talented clown is god in our lands.But then things got less funny on the world stage, with the West liking Russia’s rising less and less. That’s when Vovan and Lexus turned their eyes to foreign leaders. Remembering their education and command of languages, they began to call the people of high standing outside Russia and to provoke them into revealing their real thoughts and intentions, as well as their ignorance and bewilderment about global developments.What’s funny, our two national heroes almost never failed. All their victims believed until the end that they were talking with Ukrainian President of Prime Minister, or close advisors to other foreign leaders. That’s how our evil couple has scammed George Bush, Angela Merkel, US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham… the list goes on and on.Their biggest catch was, probably, the mentioned ex-Chancellor of Germany. Merkel in 2023, thinking she was talking to Ukraine’s ex-President Poroshenko, has confessed that the Minsk international agreements of 2014 to end the Ukrainian civil war were… well, a prank. The Western powers never meant to fulfill their obligation to Moscow, she said, the agreements were meant from the start to give Ukraine the time to take a rest, rearm and get ready for a war with Russia.So every Russian knows by now that one can never trust the West, since that West’s ultimate aim was and is to use Ukraine as a battering ram against Moscow. You can feel that experience in all of Russia’s diplomacy.You may think that the whole of that West would crumble down after Merkel’s revelations, being ashamed. Instead, Vovan and Lexus are now under arrest orders if they ever show their faces Westwards, and besides, all kind of information coming from Russia is supposed to be blocked totally. Instead, a completely false information picture is being painted about that big war of Russia and the West.In their Russian interview mentioned above, Vovan and Lexus are trying to explain the mechanics of their tradecraft, and also to say why they do what they do. Our genre is the symbiosis of tragedy and comedy, they say, but what we really do is, we obtain valuable information for our public.That couple has also confirmed that they have received the State awards in 2024, the name of the award being Order of Friendship. We have something interesting here: what does pranking has to do with “a great contribution to strengthening friendship and cooperation between nations” (that is the official reasons for awarding someone with that cherished golden star)?We are trying to pierce the information bubble around Russia and show the people world over the real picture of the world events, say our heroes in their interview. They add: we are getting all kind of calls from abroad from people thanking us for showing them what really goes on and what kind of leaders they actually have.Maybe so. And still I think there is yet another aspect of reality that our irreverent couple is demonstrating to us. My favorite here is their 2017 call to American Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Pretending that call to be, yet again, from the Prime Minister of Ukraine, they informed the lady that Russian hackers (with two of them, called Vovan and Lexus, being absolute evil) are organizing a coup in an African nation called Limpopo. And the lady felled for it, accepting the existence of such nation, and promised all the might of the US to help it.What is so special about that story? It tells us not only that leaders and dignitaries and supplicants of the West are treacherous and mean. It shows that these folks are also ignorant to the extreme, or, shall we say, are divorced from reality. That relates not only to lady Maxine, but also, recently, to Prince Reza and many other victims of Vovan and Lexus.Which, in my opinion, makes matters worse. Can the world and any of its nations afford ignorant politicians in times like this? And what is democracy, if it puts barely literate people in important positions?In any case, two brilliant Russian clowns with four university degrees make the nation proud and eligible for the world of tomorrow.Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
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Brilliancy of Prank: Two Russians to Fear (Or Admire)
Two Russian prankers became indisputable heroes of the week, giving an interview to this agency and to a couple of newspapers. After which everybody is rebroadcasting their remarks on recent scamming of Mr. Reza Pahlavi, heir to a non-existing throne of Iran.
It is all about the inner machinery of Americano-Izraeli war in the Gulf, naturally. Our Russian scammers called Reza, with one of them pretending to be an advisor to the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The conversation was about Germany’s future attack on Iran so as to put Reza on the throne. He took it absolutely seriously and advised Germany to bomb and bomb his motherland into total submission. To note, at the first stage of that war, in March, the heir was supposed to be America’s favorite for the oncoming change of government in Tehran. Now, and especially after the Russian prank, his popularity went seriously down.
Who are the two prankers who ruined his reputation? What’s most important about them is, dumb clowns they are not. Here we have two brilliant and super-educated personalities, representing the best in the Russian nation.
Their stage names, Vovan and Lexus, have been borrowed from the language of street gangs. But, in real life, we are talking about Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, age 38 and 39. They have four university degrees for them two, namely in law (both of them), economics and journalism. They speak several languages. And they have deep knowledge about contemporary international politics, with its personalities and its underwater currents. In fact, these two could easily enter Russia’s Foreign Service, being absolutely eligible for that.
But, still, prankers they are, prank being their profession. If you don’t know how it works, a pranker is calling a famous person, pretending to be someone else, and gradually makes the dialogue openly idiotic, until the moment the victim finally realizes what’s going on. The conversation is being recorded and, subsequently, presented to a happy audience.
Vovan and Lexus started their career in around 2010, selecting their victims, initially, among the stars of show business and Russian politicians. It was always wildly funny. First they used the recordings of these merciless interrogations for their own website, then the TV invited them to launch their own special channel. Needless to say, our two gentlemen earned some money on that, and also popularity and good reputation. They also accumulated equipment and skilled staff to obtain telephone numbers of potential victims, and all such.
Russia is famous for its special kind of humor, and I’d say it is as good as the British one, or maybe better. A talented clown is god in our lands.
But then things got less funny on the world stage, with the West liking Russia’s rising less and less. That’s when Vovan and Lexus turned their eyes to foreign leaders. Remembering their education and command of languages, they began to call the people of high standing outside Russia and to provoke them into revealing their real thoughts and intentions, as well as their ignorance and bewilderment about global developments.
What’s funny, our two national heroes almost never failed. All their victims believed until the end that they were talking with Ukrainian President of Prime Minister, or close advisors to other foreign leaders. That’s how our evil couple has scammed George Bush, Angela Merkel, US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham… the list goes on and on.
Their biggest catch was, probably, the mentioned ex-Chancellor of Germany. Merkel in 2023, thinking she was talking to Ukraine’s ex-President Poroshenko, has confessed that the Minsk international agreements of 2014 to end the Ukrainian civil war were… well, a prank. The Western powers never meant to fulfill their obligation to Moscow, she said, the agreements were meant from the start to give Ukraine the time to take a rest, rearm and get ready for a war with Russia.
So every Russian knows by now that one can never trust the West, since that West’s ultimate aim was and is to use Ukraine as a battering ram against Moscow. You can feel that experience in all of Russia’s diplomacy.
You may think that the whole of that West would crumble down after Merkel’s revelations, being ashamed. Instead, Vovan and Lexus are now under arrest orders if they ever show their faces Westwards, and besides, all kind of information coming from Russia is supposed to be blocked totally. Instead, a completely false information picture is being painted about that big war of Russia and the West.
In their Russian interview mentioned above, Vovan and Lexus are trying to explain the mechanics of their tradecraft, and also to say why they do what they do. Our genre is the symbiosis of tragedy and comedy, they say, but what we really do is, we obtain valuable information for our public.
That couple has also confirmed that they have received the State awards in 2024, the name of the award being Order of Friendship. We have something interesting here: what does pranking has to do with “a great contribution to strengthening friendship and cooperation between nations” (that is the official reasons for awarding someone with that cherished golden star)?
We are trying to pierce the information bubble around Russia and show the people world over the real picture of the world events, say our heroes in their interview. They add: we are getting all kind of calls from abroad from people thanking us for showing them what really goes on and what kind of leaders they actually have.
Maybe so. And still I think there is yet another aspect of reality that our irreverent couple is demonstrating to us. My favorite here is their 2017 call to American Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Pretending that call to be, yet again, from the Prime Minister of Ukraine, they informed the lady that Russian hackers (with two of them, called Vovan and Lexus, being absolute evil) are organizing a coup in an African nation called Limpopo. And the lady felled for it, accepting the existence of such nation, and promised all the might of the US to help it.
What is so special about that story? It tells us not only that leaders and dignitaries and supplicants of the West are treacherous and mean. It shows that these folks are also ignorant to the extreme, or, shall we say, are divorced from reality. That relates not only to lady Maxine, but also, recently, to Prince Reza and many other victims of Vovan and Lexus.
Which, in my opinion, makes matters worse. Can the world and any of its nations afford ignorant politicians in times like this? And what is democracy, if it puts barely literate people in important positions?
In any case, two brilliant Russian clowns with four university degrees make the nation proud and eligible for the world of tomorrow.
Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
