What We Learned from Russian Pranksters’ Recording and Who Is Manipulatively Spreading the Statements of Nanuashvili and Zourabichvili?

In April 2025, the Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus spoke with Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, and the head of the Democracy Research Institute, Ucha Nanuashvili, posing as the famous Russian chess player and opposition politician, Garry Kasparov. The edited and Russian-dubbed video recording of the conversation was broadcast on April 23 on Russia’s Channel One during Vovan and Lexus’ program, “The Vovan and Lexus Show.” Although the conversation mainly focused on the need for support for civil society and the peaceful nature of the protests, Georgian pro-government media outlets, including TV channel Imedi (1,2), and Resonance (1,2,3), as well as Eka Sepashvili from the People’s Power party, Jondi Baghaturia, leader of the Georgian Troupe, and various individual accounts, disseminated the following information based on the recording:

1. The former Ombudsman of Georgia claims that unofficial armed groups are present at the ongoing protests in the country;
2. Zourabichvili admits that foreign funding is being used to support opposition parties and the radical protests taking place in the streets.

1. Nanuashvili’s phrase concerning masked individuals and armed groups are being circulated without context and are not related to protest participants. In this part of the recording, Nanuashvili also mentions members of the ruling party, indicating that he was not referring to protest participants when speaking about unofficial groups. Later, Nanuashvili himself clarified that he was talking about so-called “titushkas” – opponents of the protests who had been involved in multiple violent incidents the previous year.
2. In the video recording, Zourabichvili discusses the need to support the civil sector, particularly regional media, organizations working on social issues, and trade unions. She does not state anywhere that foreign foundations directly fund opposition parties or radical street protests. On the contrary, she emphasizes that these organizations are currently facing a financial crisis.

On April 23, 2025, audio recordings were published on Vovan and Lexus’ Telegram channel, featuring their conversations with Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, and the head of the Democracy Research Institute, Ucha Nanuashvili. That same day, fragments of the conversations were aired on Russia’s Channel One during Vovan and Lexus’ program. In the show, invited guests analyze the responses of the Georgian participants.

During the conversation, the Russian pranksters presented themselves as the well-known chess player and opposition politician Garry Kasparov and engaged in discussions with Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, and the head of the Democracy Research Institute, Ucha Nanuashvili. At the beginning of the broadcast, the pranksters explained that they were calling under the name of “a foreign agent, extremist, and terrorist-listed opposition figure,” Garry Kasparov, who was supposedly interested in supporting the protests in Georgia.

According to the hosts, their cover story was as follows: Garry Kasparov, living in America, wholeheartedly supports anti-Russian movements across the post-Soviet space and wishes to provide financial aid to those fighting against Russian influence. Accordingly, “Kasparov” wanted to support the ongoing protests in Georgia, including by mobilizing financial resources through negotiations with the American administration.

It is worth noting that the recording was translated into Russian and edited and therefore may contain inaccuracies. Nevertheless, below we will review the statements made in the version distributed by the Russian pranksters.

• What Does Ucha Nanuashvili Say in the Released Recording?

At the beginning of the conversation, Nanuashvili speaks about an optimistic scenario, according to which the protest movement will continue, and the demands put forth by international organizations, including the Council of Europe, to the Georgian government, such as holding new, free, and fair elections and improving the electoral environment, could become a way to resolve the political crisis. He explains that despite the crisis during the winter period, preparations are underway for new, large-scale rallies and strikes across various cities and settlements in Georgia [35:40].

After the prankster, posing as “Garry Kasparov,” asks about the support from the U.S. Embassy and USAID, Nanuashvili responds that during the election period in particular, they received both financial and political-moral support from the U.S. and the European Union. Nanuashvili emphasizes that the situation in the country remains unpredictable and that continuing this support will be important.

In this context, where it would be expected that the conversation would continue about future protest plans or expectations of Western support, quite unexpectedly and disconnected from the natural development of the topic, Nanuashvili suddenly starts talking about informal groups [37:10]: „Я хотел бы отметить, у нас есть также неофициальные подразделения как на Майдане в Украине, есть гражданские лица в масках, есть люди из правящей партии, но также есть и люди из частных охранных компаний, и они вооружены.“

This phrase by Nanuashvili is not connected to the previous discussion topic nor to any specific question from the hosts, and it represents a sharp diversion from the subject. In addition to the fact that the discussion about USAID is immediately followed, without a pause, by the discussion about unofficial units, in the Georgian translations of the sources, the phrase “members of the ruling party,” which Nanuashvili mentions alongside representatives of private security companies and masked civilians, is omitted. Naturally, Nanuashvili would not have mentioned members of the ruling party among protest participants.

Furthermore, in Imedi TV’s news report, Nanuashvili’s phrase is accompanied by video footage of fireworks being set off by protest participants, creating the impression that Nanuashvili was talking about the protesters themselves.

Frame from Imedi’s news broadcastAccording to Nanuashvili’s later clarification, his remark referred to violent, anti-protest groups – the so-called “titushkas,” who, during the protests in November and December of the previous year, were involved in acts of intimidation and violence against citizens.

• What Does Salome Zourabichvili Say in the Released Recording?

In response to the pseudo-Kasparov’s question about whether Zourabichvili could share information on who and what kind of support is needed from the U.S. government, Zourabichvili answers that she is in contact with NGOs that, in her opinion, are particularly in need of support [02:06].

According to Zourabichvili, support is needed in three main areas: first, regional media and opposition TV channels, which even with limited funding have a strong impact but are currently lacking such resources. The second sector she highlights is trade unions. The third area Zourabichvili mentions is NGOs working on social issues, that is, organizations that are not at the forefront of political agendas but are concerned with social matters.

At no point in the conversation does Zourabichvili imply that foreign funding is spent on organizing street protests, let alone of a radical nature. On the contrary, she explicitly notes that NGOs focused on political or electoral issues are in a better position because they were better prepared to deal with Russia-style legislation and moved their accounts abroad. According to Zourabichvili, these organizations previously received support from USAID and European foundations. However, she points out that Europeans are now acting very slowly, and the assistance suspended for government structures has not yet reached civil society; that’s why the critical moment has arrived.

In the second part of the conversation, the prankster tries to steer Zourabichvili toward discussing the radicalization of the protest and the possibility of a violent scenario, and, under Kasparov’s name, he says that the ideal and best scenario would be like Ukraine’s – Maidan. To this, Zourabichvili briefly responds that the protest in Georgia continues. After this, the prankster asks whether she is in Tbilisi. Zourabichvili replies that she is mainly in Tbilisi and that the city is the main place where the protest is consolidated. She adds, “The situation here is very tense. Protest in the streets is the only way. There is no other option but for people to go out into the streets to achieve the final goal.” She then notes that the crisis is so deep that a stable solution through peaceful means is difficult to imagine.

Although the conversation mentions the necessity of street protests and forms of civil resistance, Salome Zourabichvili never speaks about foreign funding being necessary or planned for protests. In fact, the main line of her conversation is that the NGO sector, trade unions, and media are in crisis and need the restoration of the support that existed before.

• What Do We Know About the Russian Pranksters’ Videos?

For years, Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) and Alexei Stolyarov (Lexus) have been deceitfully attempting to obtain recordings from Western politicians and Kremlin opponents in order to use their words to reinforce Kremlin narratives. They introduce themselves to their targets as entirely different people – sometimes as advisors to the President of Ukraine, sometimes as Western colleagues, and sometimes even as African leaders. Recently, their tactics have become even more sophisticated: using deepfake technology, they now not only mimic voices but also show the impersonated person’s face, making their deception much more convincing. It’s also notable that while they conduct conversations in English, the final recordings they release are edited and dubbed into Russian, raising additional questions about what was actually said.

The list of victims of the Russian pranksters is extensive: writers Lyudmila Ulitskaya and Boris Akunin, politicians Boris Johnson, Giorgia Meloni, Andrzej Duda, and others – all have been deceived in various ways, and their words were then taken out of context and used to “justify” Russian state propaganda.

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