Several Russian schools were tricked into sending birthday greetings to President Vladimir Putin bearing a photograph and quotes of a World War II-era Ukrainian partisan leader who has been vilified by the Kremlin.
The effort was spearheaded by Vladislav Bokhan, an exiled Belarusian activist who has staged several similar pranks aimed at opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and highlighting contradictions and hypocrisy in government rhetoric.
In his latest effort, Bokhan, who lives in Poland, said he contacted schools in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, and posed as a lawmaker from United Russia, the dominant political party in Russia.
He said he ordered teachers to draft their students into writing birthday greetings for Putin, who will turn 71 on October 7. Bokhan sent the teachers a black-and-white photograph of what he said was Putin, along with quotations he attributed to Putin.
The teachers then had their students compose and print out the congratulations, and post photographs of the effort on the Russian social media site VK and send them to Bokhan. The images were published on Bokhan's Telegram account.
The teachers failed to notice the portrait Bokhan sent was of Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist and partisan leader during World War II who is a hero to many Ukrainians.
Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its military arm, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, fought both Soviet and Nazi forces. But the groups are also accused of carrying out murderous campaigns against Poles and Jews.
Russia, meanwhile, has long vilified Bandera, labeling him a Nazi due to his group’s actions alongside, in some cases in coordination with, Nazi forces during World War II. The Kremlin frequently uses the term “Banderites” as a derogatory term to describe Ukrainian nationalists.
There was no immediate comment from the Kaluga regional administration or the education department in the region.
In a post to his Telegram channel, Bokhan said he called his prank "Know Your Enemy By Sight."
"Is this really the enemy they are looking for? Perhaps it's worth taking a closer look? Maybe look from a different angle? Maybe look in the mirror?" he wrote.
The prank wasn’t the first masterminded by Bokhan.
Last year, in two western Russian regions, he tricked several schools into holding celebratory marches in honor of Bokhan, saying he was a military hero serving in Ukraine. People were later photographed carrying signs saying "Vladislav is our hero."
The action was later denounced by the regional branch of United Russia.
Another action that Bokhan pulled off was tricking schoolteachers in a Moscow region town to participate in a municipal cleanup day carrying slogans used by Nazis at concentration camps.