In the story of Russian prank callers, who have fooled high-ranking officials, parliamentarians and the offices of important international organizations in several countries, the local aspect of these "pranks" has been left out. In the case of Latvia, the possible next Foreign Minister, Rihards Kols, has been made to look like a fool. This might not be a coincidence, but the result of unannounced cooperation between special services.
Vovan and Lexus are not some cartoon characters who, like Bart Samson, call bartender Moe and ask to put Hugh Jass on the phone. Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov call influential politicians, public figures and civil servants. These prank callers have also called Russian officials and made them panic about some local unrest. Respectively, the range of victims and pranks is quite wide - with an impact both at home and internationally.
Russia is not a citadel of democracy, and it is quite clear that such jokes would be impossible without some coordination at the highest levels of the country. Otherwise, Vovan and Lexus would be sitting in jail, they already have fitting nicknames. However, they sit on Russian central television and discuss the content of their "jokes" in very serious news programs - with a friendly moderator's introduction "this time our guys have pranked..."
The Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) admits: "Although the Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus position themselves as independent activists, in the SAB's opinion their activities are coordinated and fully in line with the Kremlin's political interests and it is a purposeful operation by Russia."
These Kremlin clowns like to make fun of Ukraine. After pretending to be the president of Ukraine and bringing the Defense Minister almost to despair, the two pranksters made it clear that Ukraine is a country that can be run by telephone. That Ukrainian leaders are crazy. You can watch it all on Youtube. Ukraine has now blacklisted both from traveling there.
Just in March and April, Kuznetsov and Stolyarov also pranked the Baltic states. They made Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian parliamentarians look like fools. And the Heads of Foreign Affairs Committees. And the special services that failed to provide politicians with a safe working environment. However, for some reason, there is still no public ridicule in the Russian media. Rihards Kols also expresses a certain surprise about this, through whose Foreign Affairs Committee both fraudsters infiltrated the Latvian environment. Apparently, the story that the Baltic trio are failed states and lands of fools just like Ukraine, is being saved for a more opportune moment and will arrive at the right time to inflict maximum humiliation.
Kuznetsov and Stolyarov explain in an interview on Russian state television that the victims are selected according to current events in the public space. This time, the topic for fooling the Baltic States was the imprisonment of the opposition Alexei Navalny, but what does it have to do with the Baltic States? Not much. Why should misinformation about personnel changes in the Navalny team be disseminated through Baltic officials and media? In the opinion of the Constitution Protection Bureau in this case "the purpose of deception is to damage the reputation of Navalny's supporters, to create doubts for the Western media and the international community when contacting his team representatives." However, the reputation of the Constitution Protection Bureau itself and the reputation of the Saeima Foreign Affairs Committee have also been damaged. Rihards Kols admits that when he informed colleagues that a remote meeting had taken place with a false representative of Navalny, his "colleagues were genuinely shocked."
One month after the scandal, a new version has appeared or rather - is being distributed, namely, that one of the sub-goals of this Russian special service operation was the discreditation of Rihards Kols. And it has happened with the involvement of the special services of another country. Kols is one of the most influential politicians in the National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība) and a candidate for the post of Foreign Minister. He would be pushed both now if the government of Unity (Vienotība) were to fall over, as well as after the next Saeima elections. But now, after falling for the provocation of Vovan and Lexus, Kols is compromised. There are forces in Europe that would not want to allow a nationally-minded conservative politician to take on such an internationally influential position. Therefore, there is a possibility that the Russian provocation to harass Navalny was also used by someone in their interests against Latvia.
However, Rihards Kols himself does not consider this possibility: “If I were the only target of the attack, I could analyze why I was targeted. However, the target was on the heads of the foreign affairs committees of all three Baltic states, who formulate their country's positions on Russia and impose sanctions. Apparently, this was a Russian test - how capable we are of defending our information space, and unfortunately they succeeded at the test.”
However, we are not the only ones who have to feel ashamed, because Britain with all its fine MI6s and James Bonds has fallen for similar provocations of the Kremlin state. So have the members of the German Bundestag. And Amnesty International.
In the digital age and remote living, society has reached a state of total helplessness, because no one can be sure of anything anymore. What to do in such circumstances? Here is the recommendation of the responsible special service, which still failed to protect politicians from seemingly so primitive deception:
“SAB calls on Latvian state institutions, non-governmental organizations and the media to carefully evaluate and test the proposed cooperation projects and discussion partners. Various types of false identities and increasingly sophisticated manipulation techniques are increasingly being used in Russia's influence operations. When receiving an e-mail, phone call or message on social networks from a potential discussion partner, please verify the sender's true identity - check the official website of the organization represented by the person or verified social network accounts, and compare the contact information. Even if the e-mail was received from an address identical to the one listed on the website, when writing a reply, we recommend that you do not use the automated reply function, but re-enter the address in the e-mail window."
We can only hope that this will protect us all from Vovan and Lexus.
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