Son of Putin’s spokesman says he’ll REFUSE to fight in Ukraine after being duped in radio telephone sting
THE son of a top Kremlin official revealed in a prank call that he had no intention of being called up for Vladimir Putin’s war mobilisation.
Nikolay Peskov, 32, son of the president’s spin-doctor and war spokesman Dmitry Peskov, believed he was talking to a military call-up officer.
He fell for the phone sting and made clear he would pull strings in the Kremlin so he did not have to obey the mobilisation order.
The call evidently showed that the entitled sons of the Russian political elite do not expect to be sent to the front, unlike hundreds of thousands of other Russians from ordinary backgrounds who will get no exemptions.
He received a fake call on livestream Popular Politics, a channel linked to the team of failed Putin foe Alexei Navalny.
The call was made by the channel’s presenter Dmitry Nizovstev, who told Peskov junior that he was Major Anton Matrynov, from a Moscow conscription office.
He greeted the young man saying: "Hello. Let's not hang up, like last time."
Peskov replied, asking: “Why are you calling me …?”
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The young man answered: “Because Mr. Peskov…we've sent you a conscription today via electronic way as well.
“But you didn't reply yet."
He then informed Peskov that he must attend a conscription office at 10am the next day.
The son of the Putin senior official replied bluntly: "Naturally I will not be there at 10am.
“You must understand I am Mr Peskov.
“It’s not quite right for me to be there [at the conscription office]."
The war dodger then said he would "sort this out at another level".
He heavily implied this would involve pulling strings to prevent his call-up.
Peskov told the officer there were “political nuances” about being called up without explaining his father was Putin’s press secretary and deputy head of the Kremlin administration.
He is a former conscript in Russia’s nuclear rocket forces and in theory could be a prime candidate for mobilisation.
Peskov the younger said: “If I have to defend Motherland, it's not a problem, but I have to understand the feasibility of my coming there.
But the son did say that if Putin ordered him to be called up he would obey.
Peskov is a former sports journalist with the RT ‘propaganda’ media network .
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Dmitry Peskov demanded that the "full transcript" of the prank call should be published.
He said he was confident his son would be vindicated.
