What prankster Vovan does has long been the subject of debate and causes polarized assessments. Some consider telephone pranks to be harmless hooliganism, while others consider them to be an operation of special services and a method of waging a hybrid war. One thing is clear for now - officials and other victims are raising the issue of information security at all levels. After all, it’s one thing to tell an invisible interlocutor about where you spent the weekend, and quite another to unknowingly divulge a state secret.

Childhood and youth

Little is known about the biography of the pranker Vovan, aka Vovan222. Born in Kuban in 1986, real name is Vladimir Kuznetsov, there is no exact information about his nationality. His parents are “ordinary guys, not generals,” as he himself says. The guy studied at a regular school, was interested in the same things as most boys in school age. But nature gave him a unique gift of imitation and copying of voices.

Vovan and Lexus - Prank with Elton John

Vovan plays tricks on his interlocutors using male and female voices. He works in tandem with his colleague Alexey Stolyarov, nicknamed . In 2011-2014, the Russian pranking community recognized Kuznetsov as the best pranker.

The transcript of Vladimir’s conversation with Sergei Rakhmanin received a lot of approving comments on the Internet. The head of the collectors’ association “was taken out with his own weapon,” the media wrote. The prankster called the businessman 4 times, demanding to pay off the debt on a mythical loan, until eventually the interlocutor burst into obscene language. When the audio recording appeared in the public domain, Rakhmanin said that it was a fake.

Having identified himself, Vovan talked with the president of the Zenit football club, and then with the player when he, along with him, became involved in the case in a Moscow cafe.

Vovan and Lexus - Prank with Alexander Kokorin

Victims of pranks often threaten to sue him. Anastasia Volochkova threatened to turn off the guy’s phone, but so far things have not gone further than angry SMS. And most of the heroes are understanding. The boxer reacted to the telephone hooliganism calmly, as if it were a battle of intellects.

The State Duma, known for its extremely negative attitude towards sexual minorities, after several conversations with Kuznetsov in the role, did not consider it shameful to take a photo with the prankster and comment, saying they were discussing general plans.

Pranker Vovan and his partner are often accused of being FSB agents. Public figures claim that they do not work for orders and choose the “victims” themselves. Now Vovan collaborates with the newspaper " TVNZ”, on whose pages he publishes the texts of the draws. Soon his column will be published on one of the federal channels - he has already received and accepted an offer for official cooperation.

Vovan and Lexus - Prank with Petro Poroshenko

In the future, Vladimir Kuznetsov dreams of creating a political talk show and becoming its host.

In 2017, Vovan and Lexus shared their experience gained during pranking in the book “For Whom the Phone Tolls.” Telephone hooligans told what scheme they use to get to the highest-ranking officials.

Friends consider their activities to be a unique type of journalism, since this is how they obtain socially significant information.

“When you become famous, be prepared for your life to be examined under a microscope by millions of strangers’ eyes. It’s not so difficult to escape from this: either keep your secrets under lock and key, or go into the shadows and change your field of activity. Moreover, pranksters, unlike journalists, have never been interested in the personal lives of stars. All attention was given to news events, public scandals in which the character was involved.”

Personal life

Telephone hooligan Vladimir Kuznetsov does not talk about his personal life. He claims that he has no time left for girls and entertainment - “work requires sacrifices.” He says nothing about his wife and children and "Instagram" pranker

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Pranker Vovan intrigues followers with a photo with a child

However, in some photos he is captured with a boy, but the question of whether it is his son is left unanswered.

In an era of aggravated geopolitical situation, when the world is literally on the brink of a third world war, naughty people have appeared who call some heads of state on behalf of others and play tricks on them. Pranksters Vovan and Lexus - Vladimir Kuznetsov (Krasnov) and Alexey Stolyarov - regularly provide the media with new information, making the public laugh and their victims feel awkward.

The main mystery: how do pranksters call presidents? They are suspected of having connections with the FSB, but they themselves stubbornly deny this. Who would admit it?

There was even a joke that the prankster Vovan is actually Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he calls everyone himself. And then he says, “It’s not me.” And then Lexus, it turns out, is Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Prank existed before. It is generally accepted that it appeared almost simultaneously with the telephone. This phenomenon also has its own classification. For example, there is a “hard” prank that aims to drive the victim into hysterics. Hooligans do this for fun, and then post their conversations on a special website, competing in sophistication. Sometimes telephone terrorism becomes work. On the Internet you can find many offers for prankster services with the promise that “your enemies will have a nervous fit.” And there is “light”, when the telephone hooligan just wants to have some good fun. Perhaps even together with a fooled interlocutor.

The reason for rumors about pranksters working for the Kremlin and the FSB is the choice of victims. All "spent" in Lately characters are “enemies of Russia”

But right now, thanks to Vovan and Lexus, the genre of telephone prank has acquired political significance. They are called the founders of a whole trend of prank journalism. By the way, Vladimir Kuznetsov is a journalist and lawyer by training.

Another reason for rumors about pranksters working for the Kremlin and the FSB is the choice of victims. All the characters that have been “worked out” recently are “enemies of Russia.” Or at least people whose relations with Russia are complicated.

The art of transformation

The job of a political prankster is very difficult. Vovan and Lexus, of course, do not reveal secrets, but only say that in order to call a high-ranking official, you need to go through a whole chain of assistants. And you have to ingratiate yourself with everyone. Is it a joke? It's not enough to just call. You also need artistic talent and knowledge of the agenda. And, of course, self-control. In order not to laugh at a crucial moment - this is where amateur prankers often make mistakes.

Sometimes voice work alone is not enough. For several months, Alexey Stolyarov communicated via Skupe with the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, posing as the People's Governor of Donbass Pavel Gubarev. Before communication sessions, he applied makeup. Kolomoisky consulted with the false Gubarev about the law in the Verkhovna Rada, the powers of law enforcement agencies, and discussed the details of the Minsk agreements. “If we had continued to communicate via Skype with Kolomoisky, then within two years we would have received ministerial posts in Ukraine,” says Stolyarov.

Vovan and Lexus almost always agree on something with their victims. Vladimir Kuznetsov called President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on behalf of the son of Viktor Yanukovych and asked to provide political asylum to the family of the fugitive Ukrainian leader. The old man cordially agreed, and when he found out that they were playing a joke on him, he threatened to catch the bully and send him to the potatoes. On behalf of Putin, Vovan scolded and forced Elton John to make excuses, whose trip to Ukraine was used by President Petro Poroshenko for political purposes. Fake Putin also asked the singer: “What do you think about the dispersal of the gay pride parade in Odessa by the Nazis?” Sir Elton said it was terrible. Thus, he indirectly admitted that they were indeed Nazis. Putin personally apologized to the artist for the behavior of telephone hooligans. And this also gave reason to talk about the consistency of the action.

And here is one of latest victims– Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kuznetsov and Stolyarov called him under the guise of Petro Poroshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The “President” and “Prime Minister” of Ukraine agreed with Erdogan to coordinate joint actions against Russia - Erdogan said that he would participate “with pleasure.” The pranksters asked Recep Tayyip for preferential travel packages to Turkey for Ukrainian civil servants. The President agreed, noting that he did not see any obstacles to this. But he still refused a reward for the pilot who shot down the Russian Su-24.

Secrecy of the investigation

And at the end of October 2014, Vovan called John McCain, introducing himself as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. The American Republican senator promised him to provide assistance to Ukraine. Then McCain began to claim that Vovan was an intelligence officer. “He now often writes that I am already an FSB major. After Lukashenko they began to write this especially,” Kuznetsov said in an interview.

But other rumors are also emerging. After calling Elton John on behalf of Putin, Ukrainian websites wrote that the prankster Vovan, on the contrary, was arrested by the FSB on suspicion of treason.

“Of course, this is no longer entertainment for us, the ideology is to show everything that is hidden, if it is possible to show the closed moments of a public person from the other side, to reveal some secrets, including political ones. Sometimes these are journalistic investigations, only in the prank genre,” says Kuznetsov.

The pranksters called the US Embassy and talked with the general, asking about the Pentagon’s plans for the Ukrainian army. They claim that they promoted the Crimean Tatar politician Lenur Islyamov to indirectly confess to organizing the undermining of power lines in the Kherson region. True, he himself says that the conversation is fake. And People's Deputy of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko, on whose behalf the call was made, accused the authors of the “prank investigation” of working for the Russian special services.

Bully's responsibility

“Of course, it is obvious that their activities are under the control of the intelligence services. Like any more or less noticeable activity, lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky is convinced. – Now there is a noise: Apple refuses to hack an iPhone belonging to a terrorist. In fact, this is just an advertising campaign for the company, all iPhones have long been under the control of the secret services, and Facebook is generally a CIA idea.”

How can one classify the actions of pranksters from a legal point of view? “I don’t see anything illegal in their activities,” notes Agranovsky. – Practical jokes are not punishable. Although it depends on what the consequences may be. For example, if they called and said: “Your child is in the hospital,” and the person became ill, then we could talk about responsibility.”

The world remembers the tragic consequences of a call from journalists to the maternity hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, was lying. The nurse who told the false Queen Elizabeth II the details hanged herself.

But Vovan and Lexus say that they are only interested in socially important information, and they are indifferent to the private lives of celebrities. Therefore, their actions do not fall under Article 137 of the Criminal Code “Violation of privacy.” Of all the victims, only Anastasia Volochkova threatened to sue the pranksters.

Lexus: “Man is a trusting species”

– You deny that you work for the FSB. But someone in the special services is helping you, isn’t it? Otherwise, how do you manage to call high-ranking people?

- No, absolutely. Rather, we are helping the FSB.

“The choice of victims is also suspicious. You are calling people whose relations with Russia are, let’s say, problematic. Why don't you call the Rottenbergs, Igor Sechin, Ramzan Kadyrov?

– This is rather our personal position on many issues. We did not plan to harm the people who head the state. If our point of view were different, we would call other people. They would go into opposition. But we do what we like.

– Prank is difficult work.

– How is it monetized?

– We sell our exclusive materials to the media. We are currently working on creating our own program, which will soon be released.

will appear on television - on one of the three buttons.

– Do you receive orders?

- No. We only deal with those people in whom we have an interest. Ideas are born from us ourselves, no one stands over our soul and tells us what to do, how to reach this person and what scenario to work according to.

– You have already gained fame. Has it become more difficult to call? Perhaps the staff has increased their vigilance?

– No, we don’t call the same people a second time. And those who don’t know us don’t know.

– Has it ever happened that the victims realized that they were being played?

– It happened, but rarely. The man himself is a gullible species.

And Alexey Stolyarov) spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, who thought he was communicating with the elected President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and congratulated him on his victory in the elections. Moreover, the French leader himself called the Russian prank masters. How this happened - the pranksters are silent. However, the recording of the conversation itself has already been posted on YouTube.

On the recording, Macron's assistant can be heard asking his interlocutor if he is "". The interlocutor replies that he is an assistant to the elected president of Ukraine and “passes the phone to him.” Further, through translators, Macron advised “Zelensky” to “enjoy this moment with his family, and discussed a number of political issues with him,” reports.

Three days earlier, the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo wished good luck to the “future Prime Minister” of Ukraine “Vovan Lexusov”. He wrote about this on his Twitter page, reports.

“I wish my friend Peter and his future Prime Minister Vovan Leksusov all the best and victory to lead the country along the path of Euro-Atlantic integration,”

- he noted.

Soon the politician deleted his wish from his page on the social network. However, the text itself is partially available in a search engine if you request a quote from the message. In addition, Twitter users and journalists managed to take screenshots of the recording.

Thus, British correspondent Sean Walker noted that Haradinaj most likely became a victim of Vovan and Lexus. He wrote about this on the same Twitter and posted a screenshot of the Prime Minister’s post. One of the jokers, Vladimir Kuznetsov, responded to the journalist’s post. He seemed to confirm Walker's assumption.

“It's simple because the Western press doesn't write as much about us as it does here. In this way, we can watch for new politicians,” Kuznetsov explained.

However, not everyone falls for pranksters. At the beginning of this year - the second of January - Vovan and Lexus were unable to prank the mayor of Kyiv Vitaly with a message about the drunken President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko - the former world boxing champion "saw through" the callers.

The pranksters introduced themselves as the chairman. Klitschko began to congratulate his interlocutor on the New Year, but quickly suspected a trick when pranksters reported that a drunken Poroshenko allegedly crawled under the table.

“Well, here we are dragging drunken Pyotr Alekseevich out from under the table,” said the prankster.

Klitschko was silent for several moments, after which he congratulated his interlocutors on the New Year and wished them successful “divorces” in the future.

“Happy New Year to you, prankers! I wish everyone would focus on your divorces... Without you, life, frankly, is boring,”

- said the mayor of Kyiv.

The pranksters asked whether the heating was working and whether the residents of the Ukrainian capital were freezing. Klitschko responded by inviting his interlocutors to Kyiv.

“You can’t wait! Come to Kyiv, you will be very surprised how beautiful the city is,” said the head of the Ukrainian capital.

The “Jokers” also complained to the mayor of Kyiv, who banned them from entering the country. Klitschko suggested that Vovan and Lexus monitor the city remotely - via video link.

At the end of last year, the head of the so-called “Ukraine” Epifaniy also became a victim of the Vovan and Lexus prank. The press secretary of the schismatic OCU, Archbishop Evstratiy (Zorya), reported about the conversation between the “primate of the new church” and the pranksters.

During the prank, Vovan and Lexus pretended to be “representative of David McAllister.” Epiphany told them that he sees only Petro Poroshenko as president of Ukraine. The OCU accused Russia of an information attack against Metropolitan Epiphany, reports NSN .

“Of course, we see only Poroshenko in this post, who must continue the process that is now happening in the country, and if a pro-Russian politician comes, then this will be a problem for the future of Ukraine,” said an OCU employee.

Speaking on behalf of McAlister, the pranksters expressed dissatisfaction with the rejection of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church“European policy of tolerance” and asked whether the new OCU will change its attitude towards representatives of the LGBT community.

“I am for us to start reforms in the church, so that we move away from the Russian tradition and the church is open and a leader of the Ukrainian people. We must move away from the Russian conservative tradition,” said the head of the “new church” of Ukraine.

In addition, Epiphanius spoke about “tangible support” for the OCU from the United States and acknowledged Washington’s role in the formation of a schismatic religious association.

Vovan222 (Vovan222, pranker Vladimir) is the most famous and quoted pranker in Russia and Ukraine by the media. 26 years old, lives in Moscow, lawyer, journalist. Began its activities back in 2007. During this time, he managed to act out, bring out revelations and show true face dozens of celebrities from the world of show business, sports and politics.

Vladimir gained wide fame by playing a prank with the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov. After the elections to the State Duma, in December 2011, a prankster (on behalf of the then assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich) told Churov that Dmitry Medvedev was dismissing him in connection with numerous rallies in Moscow.

The list of celebrities who fell for Vladimir’s bait includes such names as USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky and many others. In addition, Vladimir is known for his pranks on politicians and Ukrainian stars (Natalia Korolevskaya, Oleg Lyashko, Artem Milevsky, Oleg Blokhin, Viktor Leonenko and others). Audio recordings of these conversations posted on the Internet often become a real sensation and are immediately picked up by many federal media. Relevant and timely, they shed light on events that have received wide public attention, attracting the attention of a large audience. Thanks to his activities, we learn the point of view of a public person on a particular issue, an opinion that, for various reasons, cannot be officially voiced. Destroying the usual image of famous people, tearing off masks, he allows us to see people from a different side, revealing their essence in a conversation without cuts.

For the last three years in a row, Vladimir has been voted the best pranker in Russia by the official pranker community.

However, Vladimir has long gone beyond the classical understanding of prank. He declares himself as a public figure who, in addition to politicians, exposes dubious, sometimes criminal schemes of collection agencies, and also brings to light clean water" scammers from the zone, deceiving pensioners of their last money.

Vladimir is also widely known in the football world. He managed to shed light on many football secrets, including match-fixing. His contribution to sports was appreciated by winning the “Let Them Talk” category of the “Head Blow” program on the Rossiya 2 TV channel (his competitors in this category were the famous football player Roman Shirokov and the controversial expert Alexander Bubnov). Vladimir was included in the list of 33 most influential people in the country's football world following the results of the 2012-2013 season according to the portal sports.ru

Vladimir believes that in our difficult times, his activities should benefit society.

A few days ago, an audio clip appeared on the Internet in which Vovan222, on behalf of the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Vitaly Milonov, provokes his fellow parliamentarians - Anatoly Krivenchenko and Alexey Kovalev. We learned from Vladimir why he played a prank on the deputies and why prank (telephone hooliganism) is needed in principle.

Vladimir, how do you like the reaction of your interlocutors in the last draw?

It was not possible to talk to everyone - many deputies, having heard Milonov’s hysterical “voice”, hung up. But, of course, I really liked Alexey Kovalev’s reaction. He is an adequate person.

Why was the provocation needed?

I heard that many of Milonov's colleagues talk about his inadequacy. I wanted to confirm or deny these rumors. As you heard, it was not possible to refute it.

So you wanted to bring Milonov out into the open?

I had no intention of showing him as inadequate. I did everything to make him open up and show himself. Vitaly and I achieved this. And I called his colleagues to hear what they really thought about him. And it turned out that Milonov even had slip-ups at meetings. Which is strange for a deputy of the second most important city in Russia. And for me this is very sad.

By the way, Milonov said that he would not look for prankers...

Best of the day

Well, I think that if we were some kind of “gay” pranksters, he would probably be puzzled by our search...

Where did you get Milonov's lines from?

I played it last December. It was a classic prank - our conversation with him was based on absurdity. I didn't need to introduce myself as someone. I just started to provoke him. Well, Milonov brought this stream of absurdity to a terrible state, showing himself to be simply some kind of inadequate person. I even thought: maybe he should get checked by the doctors. From him I heard such funny verbal exercises as “shit-licking” and “shit-shit”. I didn't know these words. In general, Milonov was extremely aggressive. It seems to me that the prank in this case showed his true colors.

Aren't you afraid of offending someone?

I try not to offend anyone. For example, we had a great conversation with Kovalev. By the way, I don’t think that I could have offended Milonov with some stupid phrases. Because a reasonable person would either laugh or hang up. He began to swear.

How do you prepare for the call?

I cut up phrases—usually about 70—and prepare them on the computer so I can turn them on quickly. It is not hard. It is much more difficult to insert one of the pre-prepared phrases into a conversation in a split second. It is also necessary that the chosen phrase be a continuation of the conversation and fit the context. And the decision about which phrase to choose needs to be made in a split second. So that the person does not realize that he is being played.

Why do you need prank? It's your job?

No. In life, I am a 26-year-old journalist with a degree legal education. As for my goals, I try to use prank for the benefit of society. For example, in the case of Milonov, I think I managed to open people’s eyes to what kind of person he was. And in general, public people often hide their true face and attitude towards others from strangers.

I open it.

Who would you like to prank in the near future?

I usually don’t set goals - everything happens spontaneously. I follow the news of social life, politics, football, although I understand little about it. Savor– this is, of course, my favorite topic. Now I paid attention to Ukraine - recently there was a prank with local politicians. I would probably be interested in talking with the top officials of our state. Dmitry Anatolyevich, for example.

Aren't you afraid of retribution?

I've been doing prank for five years now. I don't think this will turn into anything serious. So far there have been no complaints about my activities. Besides, I'm relatively a famous person. It is unlikely that anyone will make an attempt on my life.

CHUVASHIA 06.04.2014 11:48:46

THERE IS NO SENSE IN TALKING WITH DEPUTIES IT WILL NOT GIVE PEOPLE ANYTHING AS BY SHOWING PEOPLE THE TRUE FACE OF THE DEPUTY, THE PRESIDENT, PEOPLE STILL WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CHANGE THE DEPUTY, THE PRESIDENT AND AND THEY WILL BE WORKING WITH SOMEONE TO CHANGE THEM RAISING MONEY AND IF YOU CALL FRAUDSTERS, SUCH AS FORTUNE TELLERS, CLAIRVOYERS ETC. THE INTERNET WILL OPEN PEOPLE'S EYES TO PROBLEMS THAT WE CAN CANDLE