International- Putin announced plans for a partial mobilization that immediately drafts 300,000 reservists.
- Pranksters called up the son of a top Kremlin official and said he had been enlisted in the army.
Pranksters called the son of a senior Kremlin official and told him that he was being enlisted in the army and must fight in Ukraine, and he responded by trying to get out of being drafted.
The hosts of the Russian YouTube channel Popular Politics called the 32-year-old son of Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
The pranksters, who pretended to be recruitment officers, told the 32-year-old Nikolay Peskov that he has been drafted into the army and needed to attend a medical examination the following day.
"Obviously not!" the younger Peskov told the pranksters, according to a video shared by independent Russian news website The Insider. "You must understand it is not right for me to be there. I have to resolve this on a different level."
"If I have to defend my motherland I will step up, no problem but you need to understand the political implications and nuances of my situation," he added.
The call comes after Putin announced a partial military mobilization as part of the next phase of his ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials said that meant 300,000 people being drafted immediately.
His announcement sparked panic among Russians as some attempted to flee the country and others took to the streets to protest.
Dmytri Peskov personally responded to prank call, telling the Russian news site Podyom on Wednesday that the conversation had been taken out of context and that his son would make the "only right decision."
The older Peskov has served as Putin's official spokesperson for the last two decades. Less than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the US sanctioned his wife and children, accusing them of living "luxurious lifestyles that are incongruous with Peskov's civil servant salary."
His son, who grew up in the UK and was educated here, was also sanctioned by the British government in March and has since been barred from traveling to the country, The Telegraph reported.
When he returned to Russia from his studies in the UK, Peskov served in the Russian army from 2010 to 2012, the news site Kommersant reported. He later worked for the Russian television channel RT, The Telegraph reported.