Under one live TV on YouTube on Wednesday night, Russian activists summoned the adult sons of some of Russia’s most powerful people.

The goal is to “mobilize” the Russian elite for Vladimir Putin’s brutal war machine in Ukraine.

Both the son of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Misjustin and the son of Putin’s press spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, were subjected to prank calls, and the two continued.

Refuse to appear

“Of course I’m not coming,” replied Peskov’s son, Nikolaj Peskov, when he was asked to report to the military enlistment office at 10 a.m. Thursday.

“Not yet,” replied Misjustin’s son, when asked if he would like to join a reserve force that may have to be mobilized in the future.

The choice has no Another 300,000 Russian citizens are now, against their will, mobilized to take part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Many have accepted the official invitation, but the reluctance of the Russian people to participate in what Putin calls a “partial mobilization” is remarkable.

Shortly after Putin announced the mobilization in a televised address to the country on Wednesday morning, plane tickets from Russia were ripped up.

“You have to understand…”

The Russian activists behind the prank calls are Dmitrij Nizovtsev and Sergej Boyko. Both are part of the organization of imprisoned activist Aleksey Navalny, and run the popular YouTube channel “Populjarnaja Politika” – “popular politics” in Norwegian.

The call took place during the live stream, but the clip has separated and in less than a day has received nearly 1.2 million views.

It was especially the conversation with Peskov’s son, Nikolaj Peskov, that caught the eye.

– More desperate

“You must understand… If you know that I am Mr. Peskov, you must understand that it is not right for me to be there,” said his son when he was asked to appear at the registry office.

He then added:

“In short, I will settle this on another level.”

Activist Nizovtsev, disguised as the Russian military, then tried to ask what level Peskov was referring to, but got no concrete answer.

“There is a mobilization going on, Nikolay, a mobilization in the Russian Federation,” activist Nizovtsev told Peskov firmly.

“This is an order”

The conversation between Peskov and what he believed to be a representative of the Russian military then continued for several minutes.

Peskov tried to clarify precisely which it was he who called her, and emphasized that the person in question would be “contacted” afterward.

“This is an order from Vladimir Vladimirovich,” Nizovtsev said, referring to Putin’s official mobilization order.

Want to mobilize 300,000: – Totally unrealistic

Vladimirovich is Vladimir Putin’s middle name, and in Russia people call each other by first and middle names in certain contexts.

“If Vladimir Vladmirovich say me that I have to go there, I will go there,” Peskov replied.

Call confirmation

Putin’s press spokesman Dmitry Peskov has, as Russian independent news site Meduza notes, actually confirmed that a conversation between Nizovtsev took place.

He claimed that his son no refused to be present at the military enlistment office, and it claimed that part of the conversation between Nizovtsev and his son had been cut off.

– Surprise spread

– Ask them to post the whole conversation. I have no doubt that he made the right choice. And I have no doubts about him,” Peskov said in a statement.

And thus chose to ignore the fact that the conversation was recorded during a live broadcast, and no part of the conversation was cut.