Prankers from Russia Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, better known as Vovan and Lexus, who became famous for their pranks of world politicians and celebrities, chose the former president of Georgia and ex-governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, as their next target. In an interview with RT, Alexey Stolyarov (Lexus) said that young people were able to get in touch with Saakashvili under the guise of the deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

In a conversation with Russian prankers, Mikhail Saakashvili assured them that he would take active steps against his political opponents.

“If they let me into Ukraine, that's one story. If obstacles do me, this is no longer their business, because I will do everything in full. They will not seem a little! Very little will not seem. He doesn't know who he was dealing with yet. I wrote to him here, by the way: you must have forgotten who I am ?! I have a lot of energy, a lot of connections, a big name. I will use all this for specific, definite purposes against these oligarchic types, ”said the former head of the Odessa region.

According to Stolyarov, the prankers took Saakashvili to a frank conversation for about six months and even predicted that he would be deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship.

“Today the full version will be posted in the evening, so I cannot disclose everything yet. But there, firstly, there will be his attitude towards Maria Gaidar (in 2016 she was the deputy chairman of the Odessa Regional State Administration. — RT). The "divorce" itself lasted for half a year, and Saakashvili unconditionally trusted us. And we warned that he would be deprived of his citizenship. This ultimately happened to him. We didn’t even think it would happen, but we seemed to predict it for him. Therefore, all his expectations were based on our predictions, ”Stolyarov said.

Stolyarov recalled that he and Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) played a trick on Saakashvili for the second time. The previous conversation prankers conducted on behalf of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. At the same time, Saakashvili did not recognize that he was being played again.

“I attribute it to his brilliant mental ability, but it still wasn't easy. We got into trust through his entourage. And then we got to Misha himself, ”added the pranker.

Vovan and Lexus became famous for a series of pranks of world politicians, becoming the center of media attention after a call to Elton John on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Subsequently, US Senators John McCain and Maxine Waters, US Energy Minister Rick Perry, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Head of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Ingrid Deltenre, WADA anti-doping agency head and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko became the targets of Vovan and Lexus' pranks.

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Stranger in a foreign land

After leaving the post of President of Georgia, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine and became an adviser to President Petro Poroshenko, and later - the governor of the Odessa region. On July 26, 2017, by the decree of Poroshenko, Saakashvili was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. At the time of the issuance of the decree, Saakashvili was in the United States, from where he later left, first to Poland, then to Lithuania, and is currently with his family in Hungary.

Despite the deprivation of citizenship, at a meeting with journalists in Warsaw, Saakashvili said that he intends to return to Ukraine on a legal basis.

“I study the legal framework and go there when I'm ready. The authorities will not be able to ignore the opinion of millions of Ukrainians, ”Saakashvili said.

According to the former president of Georgia, he wants "Ukraine to be a European power" and wants to become a part of this process.

In response to this, the deputy head of the Ukrainian border service Vasily Servatyuk said that the department intends to seize Saakashvili's Ukrainian passport while trying to cross the border.

"In accordance with this decree, the border guards, having identified the passport of a citizen of Saakashvili or another passport that is in the database and which is invalid at the passport control line, must withdraw this passport," Servatyuk said, noting that the department has no information from the SBU on the prohibition of Saakashvili's entry into the territory of Ukraine.

The ex-governor himself said that the Poroshenko administration refuses to provide him with documents on his citizenship, namely, to give copies of these papers, filled out by him personally, for presentation in court.

“Now the experts have already confirmed that the president justified his deprivation of my citizenship by forged documents. So that<...> I did not have any mistakes in filling out the documents. At the same time, the presidential administration refuses to give me copies of the actual documents I have filled out for presentation in court, answering that this is "official information," Saakashvili wrote.

In Simferopol, prankers revealed the secrets of their negotiations at the highest level

The world famous telephone hooligans Aleksey Stolyarov (Lexus) and Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) reached the Crimean coast at the invitation of the A3 Format International Media Club. It all started with jokes, but now these are real international investigations, the results of which from time to time explode the world information space.

They easily dialed and conducted conversations with top officials of the state, officials of any level. Mikhail Saakashvili, Alexander Lukashenko, John McCain, Vitaly Mutko, Natalia Poklonskaya, Vitali Klitschko, Elton John, Alexey Panin were caught on Vovan's hook. Lexus managed to play Recep Erdogan, Petro Poroshenko, Igor Kolomoisky, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ...

Naive "father"

Lexus started pranking in 2003, launching a website with telephone raffles for show business stars: Ksenia Sobchak, Boris Moiseev, Philip Kirkorov, Lolita. Vovan came across this site, and he was struck by the reaction of the stars: why, instead of hanging up and not reacting to the stupidity of strange people, celebrities began to swear? Their behavior was at odds with the way they positioned themselves on TV screens, talking about morality and ethics, while not being shy in expressions with prankers.

Today's journalism is pretty boring, ”notes Lexus. - The interviewer is sitting and trying to find out something from the powerful. But the mighty of this world will not say anything to the journalist. Therefore, we often come across classified information. We decided to break this vicious circle ...

The pranksters soon got tired of exposing the stars in an unsightly light, and they took up more serious projects. Vovan switched to social topics, recorded the collectors, showing the schemes of the scammers. Along the way, he was engaged in sports and political pranks, and he did it both in Russia and in Ukraine. Kuznetsov's talent was appreciated in the "Square" and was invited to various talk shows. In Russia, they called governors and mayors, kicked on behalf of, or rather, the voice of the leadership, so that they would fix pipes and repair hospitals. And you know, they listened to the prankers!

2014 was a turning point. The events in Ukraine, Donbass and Crimea forced them to reconsider their views, turning comic activities into professional journalistic investigations. Teaming up, Vovan and Lexus got down to serious action ...

Kolomoisky was lured by prankers with compromising material on his enemy Oleg Lyashko. A dialogue ensued. Lexus decided to take advantage of the external resemblance to the People's Governor of Donbass Pavel Gubarev and one evening invited the oligarch to go to Skype. A bunker was built from the room, Lexus found an army uniform and the game began. First of all, Kolomoisky was asked to drink to the truce. So, drunken discussions began, which lasted for two months. Kolomoisky drank two bottles of whiskey and craved daily communication. Thanks to the influence of the pseudo Gubarev, the Dnieper battalion was withdrawn, the elections to the Verkhovna Rada were approved. Some of the proposals that the prankers issued were included in the Minsk agreements. Under the fly, one of the most influential people in Ukraine shared his love affairs, but the ethical prankers did not disclose details.

The first president they phoned was Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko. Belarus is a very protected and closed country, the prankers faced the question of how to bypass such a complex system and communicate with the head of state. But the fact of the matter is that the stronger the system, the more likely it is that there is a black hole in which you poke and everything will fall apart. It was the summer of 2014 when the former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych fled with his family to Rostov. In the news, Lukashenka has repeatedly stated that he is ready to shelter Yanukovych at home. Great idea, Vovan thought. He decided to introduce himself as the son of Yanukovych, with whom the head of Belarus had never communicated. It also played into the hands of the fact that there was no government connection, therefore, the Ukrainian family could not call through official channels. Then, according to his stories, everything was simple:

I went to the website of the administration of the President of Belarus, called from a Ukrainian number to a common number, introduced myself as an assistant to Yanukovych's son, said that he had a personal request, and left my contact phone number. Calls began from the Belarusian reception, and the very next day I received a call from Lukashenko's adjutant, who put me in touch with Alexander Grigorievich. We talked for about 20 minutes, during which the "father" did not feel the catch. He promised to shelter our family in Belarus, and for this I promised to give him our golden loaf - a symbol of power, which greatly amused us.

The prankers could not even think that this conversation would have such a resonance. Two days later, information appeared on the social network of the Ukrainian journalist Mustafa Nayem that Lukashenko was talking to Yanukovych's son. And all this was presented as a real fact. Later, a recording of the conversation gets into the network. And even after reports that it was a prank, the news took on a life of its own. Another thing surprised me - where did the Ukrainian journalist get the recording itself, which was also somewhat different from the original ?! The audio began when the adjutant only dialed the number. Russian prankers did not hear this. They realized that Lukashenka's phone was tapped. A month later, the news surfaced that Lukashenko had met with his chief of the security service and demanded that the security of telephone conversations be increased.

Thus, the Ukrainians “lit up” their channel. It is sad that the spread of our personal conversations with Alexander Grigorievich ruined everything. I also planned to talk to Lukashenka, - Vovan is mockly angry.

Divorce of Poklonskaya and Islyamov

In choosing topics, prankers are guided by the information agenda and their own interests. If these two criteria coincide, they begin to collect materials, draw up a conversation plan. They study the contacts of the selected hero, if they are heads of state, relations between countries, telephone conversations. All this information is in official sources.

So, the prankers promised to tackle the situation in Armyansk. Emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere in the north of Crimea did not leave the guys indifferent. They believe that the lack of reliable information, suppression is harmful and leads to an information vacuum that is filled with fakes. And here you need to seriously understand.

The Crimean theme has always been close to prankers. At one time, the prosecutor of the republic, Natalya Poklonskaya, fell under the distribution. She had a call at the dawn of her career. Posing as an employee of Ksenia Sobchak, Vovan tried to find out if the prosecutor was ready to appear on the covers of glossy magazines, to come to Dom-2. Poklonskaya admitted that everything needs to be coordinated with the Prosecutor General's Office, they will say she will be removed, but she will not go to Dom-2.

Now she has grown up politically and, I think, she is not coordinating anything with anyone. The figure of Natalia Poklonskaya is very controversial, but she can be praised for having her own opinion, although it is sometimes specific, - Vovan responds.

Lenur Islyamov turned out to be a valuable chatterbox, who for a year poured out all his plans to “the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Anton Gerashchenko”, “the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov”, for example, asked to arm his battalion in order to attack Crimea. They also spoke with Mustafa Dzhemilev. It was surprising that both, being in the Rada, never came up to the same Gerashchenko to discuss their plans in person. No, telephone conversations were enough for them.

Once we received a call from the traffic police post, where Islyamov's man with a weapon was detained. Two days later, power transmission towers were blown up. We called back to the post, found out the name of the person and what he was transporting. Islyamov confirmed responsibility for the blackout in Crimea. We transferred all this data where necessary, - Lexus shared the details.

Despite the fact that serious investigations are going on in relation to politics, and the stars of show business are more like a joke and some kind of exposure, the artists turn out to be the most scandalous. Ukrainian officials and politicians confine themselves to angry messages on the Internet. Starting another prank, the guys understand what they are getting themselves into.

We do this deliberately, understanding all the risks. We have no state protection, we are not subject to any persecution, with the exception of Ukraine. But we're not going to worry about revenge. We are not afraid of the future because we are confident in what we are doing today, says Lexus.

Soon, the guys promise to publish a record of a significant politician from Eastern Europe, who gives them the contacts of his American curators. For pranksters, this is a valuable character, through him they plan to find out what they are talking about on the sidelines in the US military.

Thanks to him, we develop our agent network, he brings us together with others, and everyone leaks information. From home, we design all European leaders, Lexus smiles.

Prankers know how to lull the interlocutor's attention, they know where to start a conversation. To make a person talk, you need him to feel the benefit in you, to find a patron in your face, as in the case of Islyamov. It seems that guys can get through to the person of the highest flight. Others use it as well. Recently they were approached by a man who asked to arrange an interview with the dollar billionaire Elon Musk. For this, the prankers are promised Porsche Caen. Lexus and Vovan are back in the game, especially since they have already talked with Musk's deputy. Maybe soon we will see prankers on an honestly earned Porsche?

They talked about the rally over the former head of Georgia and the Odessa region. According to Kuznetsov, pranks of this level are extremely difficult to prepare.

“Calling such people is not as easy as it seems from the outside. You don’t call and say like “hello, Misha, this is Poroshenko,” after which they immediately start to believe you. They have their own approach schemes, chain contacts. Each specific person needs an individual approach, to know how to hook him. And then he can get hooked. But here, a lot depends on luck anyway, "- Vladimir" Vovan222 "Kuznetsov told FAN.

His partner Lexus (Alexey Stolyarov) said that it took them about six months to bring them into a heart-to-heart conversation.

Vovan confirms his words - according to him, it is difficult to get to the ex-Georgian politician.
“We have been looking for his contacts for a very long time. Saakashvili often changes them and constantly hides, does not talk to strangers, does not pick up the phone from unknown numbers that are not in the phone book. Therefore, we called from his friend, the deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine. Before that, they wrote to him on Facebook, and he allowed to call, ”says Vovan.

“The first time we spoke with him (Saakashvili. - Gazeta.Ru) was in the fall of 2014, and since then he has been constantly changing numbers and was afraid to contact directly. Only through assistants and special services who checked everything, ”Vladimir Kuznetsov recalls the history of the rally.

Vovan also doubts Saakashvili's political weight and political identity.

“Misha works more for PR and shouts a lot. If you look at his support in Ukraine, it is minimal. And what kind of Ukrainian is he? He has connections in the United States and Europe, but their level is unlikely to allow him to directly influence Poroshenko. And hardly anyone will push Poroshenko against the wall for the sake of Saakashvili, ”the pranker said.

“He (Mikheil Saakashvili. - Gazeta.Ru) simply raises a lot of information noise and tries to attract unnecessary attention. Suddenly Poroshenko will be scared that his reputation around the world will fall after this high-profile story, "Kuznetsov said in an interview.

According to Lexus, they used to play the former head of the Odessa region. Last time the prankers pretended to be the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. According to Stolyarov, Saakashvili did not recognize the catch either then or now. Stolyarov explained this by the "brilliant mental abilities" of the victim, RT quoted him as saying.

The prankers got into the credibility of the ex-president of Georgia through his inner circle, after which they "got to Misha himself." During the conversation, Russian prankers found out that the stateless Saakashvili has "energy, connections and a big name." He will use all these resources for "specific, definite purposes" against these "oligarchic types," the ex-president of Georgia emphasized in a conversation. According to the politician, clearly excited by the conversation, he wrote a letter to Poroshenko, in which he reminded of himself: "I wrote to him here, by the way: you, I say, have probably forgotten who I am ?!"

Political analyst Sergei Temchenko believes that Saakashvili is scared, confused and "has not learned anything." “It is absolutely normal to make such statements in such an emotional state. It can be said that the ex-governor of the Odessa region and the former president of Georgia was left homeless and had to wander in search of it. Now he is in Hungary with his family, but the future of the politician is extremely vague. Saakashvili never learned anything in Georgia and again suffered political collapse in Ukraine. All his threats are groundless, and he will not be able to fix anything, "- quotes the expert" Infooreactor ".

The prankers Vovan and Lexus are often suspected of working for and. However, during one of the press conferences in 2015, they announced that they were free to choose the ones played and “do not work to order”, receiving offers “from friends”.

“They (acquaintances. - Gazeta.Ru) can suggest a topic, and we are already thinking - is it interesting or not. We are not anybody's service personnel, we are quite independent people. We are suspected that we work for the Kremlin and the FSB, recently they wrote that I work for, I was even upset with such a decrease, ”Kuznetsov said.

According to the prankers, they never received threats and they were never interested in the employees of the press services, since they are "not interested" in the information that Kuznetsov and Stolyarov have.

Published on 8/12/17 1:41 PM

The ex-governor of the Odessa region, the former notorious Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili, fell victim to a telephone rally.

Russian prankers Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov (Vovan and Lexus) played the ex-president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, introducing themselves in a telephone conversation as deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. As reported by "Russia 24", Mikhail Saakashvili delivered an ultimatum to the Ukrainian authorities: either he will be given back his citizenship, or "it will not seem enough" to them.

Within a few minutes of the conversation, Saakashvili managed to call the President of Ukraine "an oligarchic type", and if he was not allowed back, he promised the Ukrainian authorities to arrange "everything in full."

“If I’m not allowed intkbbee to Ukraine is one story. If obstacles do me, this is no longer their business, because I will do everything in full. They will not seem a little. Very little will not seem! He doesn't know who he was dealing with yet. I wrote to him here, by the way: you, I say, have probably forgotten who I am? I have a lot of energy, many connections, a big name, and I will use it all for specific specific purposes against these oligarchic types, ”Saakashvili said, quoted by the TV channel.

Georgia Georgy Mgebrishvili. Introducing themselves as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov, the prankers declared Kiev's readiness to extradite Mikhail Saakashvili to Georgia when he arrived in Ukraine. The Georgian minister refused Avakov's proposal, saying that Tbilisi “this adventurer” is not needed. A day earlier, Stolyarov and Kuznetsov played a prank on Saakashvili himself, who threatened the Ukrainian authorities "to do everything to the fullest" against "oligarchic types."

Prankers from Russia Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, better known as Vovan and Lexus, played the head of the Georgian Interior Ministry Georgy Mgebrishvili. Alexey Stolyarov (Lexus) said that the prankers, during a call to the Georgian minister, introduced themselves as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov.

“He was on vacation in Batumi and was in a drunken state. They introduced themselves as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. They said that Saakashvili was arriving in Ukraine and we were ready to hand him over to Tbilisi, ”Lexus explained to the website kp.ru.

On behalf of the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vovan and Lexus announced that Mikhail Saakashvili was returning to Ukraine, and Kiev was ready to hand over the former governor of the Odessa region to the Georgian authorities.

“We don’t need this person here. He is engaged in adventures and nothing else! " - Pranker quotes the words of the Georgian minister. According to Stolyarov, the prankers clarified about Mgebrishvili whether the former president should be handed over to Georgia at all. “If possible, do not send. Let it be a bum! " - Stolyarov quoted the words of the head of the Georgian ministry.

According to Lexus, Giorgi Mgebrishvili consulted with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who asked not to expel Saakashvili to them.

Alexey Stolyarov said that the prankers' communication with the former governor of the Odessa region lasted about six months. During this time, Vovan and Lexus gave him allegedly "information for internal use", which, according to Lexus, Saakashvili spoke several times at press conferences.

“As for contacts with Saakashvili himself, during the six months of communication, we even“ leaked ”some“ insiders ”to him, which he later voiced at press conferences. As for citizenship, we got to the point: soon he really lost it, although in this case we did not try. When we offered him to conclude a compromise agreement with the Kiev authorities, similar to what Poroshenko had with Kolomoisky and other competitors with prescribed conditions, he sent us, "Stolyarov said.

How Saakashvili was played

On Saturday, August 12, prankers Vovan and Lexus announced that they had played a prank on the former governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili. They called the deprived of citizenship politician on behalf of the deputy head of the presidential administration, Petro Poroshenko. Then Saakashvili promised that "it will not seem enough" to his political opponents.

In an interview with RT, Lexus said that young people were able to get in touch with Saakashvili under the guise of the deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. In a conversation with the prankers, the former head of the Odessa region assured them that he would take active action against his political opponents.

“If they let me into Ukraine, that's one story. If obstacles do me, this is no longer their business, because I will do everything in full. They will not seem a little! Very little will not seem. He doesn't know who he was dealing with yet. I wrote to him here, by the way: you must have forgotten who I am ?! I have a lot of energy, a lot of connections, a big name. I will use all this for specific, definite purposes against these oligarchic types, ”Saakashvili said.

Stolyarov recalled that Mikheil Saakashvili became a victim of the Russian pranker rally for the second time. The previous conversation Stolyarov and Kuznetsov conducted on behalf of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. At the same time, according to Lexus, Saakashvili did not understand that he was being played again.

“I attribute it to his brilliant mental ability, but it still wasn't easy. We got into trust through his entourage. And then we got to Misha himself, ”added the pranker.

"Those political forces will stand up for Saakashvili"

Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Council for Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, in an interview with RT, did not rule out that the former president of Georgia could have a certain share of support in Georgian society.

“I think that the Georgian Interior Ministry was not cunning. If Saakashvili ends up in his ethnic homeland, he will have to experience many negative feelings, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the entire elite of Georgia will also have a lot of headaches and troubles. In this situation, Saakashvili is a political, media figure, rather promoted, so they will most likely try to make a victim out of him. As a result, Saakashvili would have received even greater media fame, a martyr's halo and, probably, even some kind of support in the Georgian society, which has already begun to forget about the 2008 war, initiated by Saakashvili, ”he said.

The likelihood that Saakashvili will end up behind bars upon his return to Georgia is small, Bezpalko is sure: according to him, there are political forces that are unlikely to allow this.

“The political forces that used him will surely stand up for him. Of course, representatives of the Anglo-Saxon elite do not consider him an equal to themselves, but as a useful person and, perhaps, to some extent still necessary, he can be saved from imprisonment. I think that in this situation Saakashvili would have avoided imprisonment, but would have become the center of a scandal, ”the expert concluded.

Conflict between Saakashvili and Avakov

Note that Avakov, on whose behalf the drawing took place, and Saakashvili had very tense relations. The peak of the confrontation was the conflict between the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the then governor of the Odessa region, which occurred at the end of 2015.

Saakashvili, during a ministerial meeting with President Petro Poroshenko, said that Interior Minister Arsen Avakov controls informal armed groups and finances them from corruption revenues. These words came after Avakov threw a glass of water in Saakashvili's face and demanded to "get out of his country", to which the ex-president of Georgia declared that he was Ukrainian.