The fake information about hundreds of victims as a result of a fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya ("Winter Cherry") shopping mall in Kemerovo was spread by the 31-year-old Ukrainian pranker Nikita Kuvikov, known under a nickname Evgeny Volnov. He uploaded a video on which, impersonating a Ministry of Emergencies officer, he was making calls to Kemerovo mortuaries. In the conversation, he warned that "hundreds of corpses" are about to be brought.

Personnel of the mortuaries were telling how many bodies they could receive without knowing who exactly is calling, and were horrified by the information "about 300 victims." The main part of the calls was made by the pranker even before the bodies were brought to the institutions.

Evgeny Volnov is known for his cynical hoaxes. He ridicules the followers of any religion, animal rights activists and others. His channel has more than 250 thousand subscribers.

As EADaily reported earlier, the tragedy in Kemerovo has become a shared disaster for Russians. But, as it turned out, it is not so for everyone. Attempts to use the death of people in the Winter Cherry to solve some of their problems began in the first hours of the fire and do not stop until now.

March 28 is declared a Day of National Mourning in Russia.