Vovan and Lexus, Russia’s two well-known telephone pranksters, have struck again, this time posing as Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. They were successful in conversing with Henry Kissinger, a former US secretary of state, during their most recent prank call, and Kissinger supposedly confessed that Washington had given Moscow assurances regarding the cancellation of plans for NATO’s eastward expansion.

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As the clip of the prank surfaced on Twitter. Several users reacted to it. One user said, “There’s nothing surprising about deceiving a 100-year-old man.”

“Not even remotely funny. Shameful, in fact. But then that’s Russians for you,” another user tweeted.

This is not the first time the Russian duo has pranked a renowned politician. Russian comedians Vladimir Kuznetsov (also known as Vovan) and Aleksei Stolyarov (commonly known as Lexus) are Vovan and Lexus, respectively. They are well known for making hoax phone calls to well-known people, frequently critics of the Russian government or those active in foreign policy issues. 

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They have been linked to rumors that the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s top security organization, or the Russian government may be involved. The comedians, however, have refuted these allegations.

Vovan attracted a lot of public attention in 2011 when he called Vladimir Churov, the head of the Russian Central Election Commission, purporting to be Arkady Dvorkovich, the deputy prime minister. He almost persuaded Churov throughout the conversation that President Dmitry Medvedev intended to fire him. 

Another noteworthy instance occurred in June 2012 when Vovan called Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Minister of Sports, and was successful in getting him to accept responsibility for the misconduct of several athletes who had been involved in incidents involving alcohol.

Vovan and Lexus partnered up and began working together on their prank calls in 2014. One of their notable practical jokes at the time entailed calling Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti while pretending to be Georgian politician Mikheil Saakashvili.

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These pranks received a lot of media attention and demonstrated Vovan and Lexus’s ability to fool famous people with their impersonations.