On the YouTube channel of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, two videos were posted of Defense Secretary Ben Wallace talking to an imposter. The British government claims that the Russian state is behind the hoax. It says it was intended to embarrass Britain and sow false information.
One clip shows Wallace talking from Poland to a caller, who claims that Ukraine wants to develop its "nuclear programme" to defend itself against Moscow. This is a claim made by the Russian state media in the past.
Another image shows Wallace suggesting that Britain is running out of anti-tank weapons in the NLAW after having given 4,000 rocket launchers to Ukraine to resist the invasion Moscow on February 24th.
The Ministry of Defense in Britain claimed that the clips were "fed out to obscure or manipulate the truth."
It stated in a statement that "people should be very skeptical about reporting on, or accepting as real," any part of the Russian state-doctored clips. It stated that Britain had "enough weapon systems to protect both U.K. security and to maintain our NATO commitments."
The government launched a security investigation into Thursday's video call with Wallace by a fraudster posing as the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Khmyhal. Wallace claimed that he was suspicious of the caller and ended up hanging up after he asked "a few misleading questions."
A hoax call was also made to Priti Patel, Home Secretary. Culture Secretary Nadine Dories claimed that a failed attempt was made to talk to her.
The U.K. government charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with staging distractions to "hide the scale of conflict and Russia's failures on the battlefield."
"It seeks a distraction from their illicit activities in Ukraine, and their human rights abuses. So we will not allow ourselves to be distracted from our purpose of ensuring Putin must fail Ukraine," stated Max Blain, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Vovan and Lexus previously targeted international figures such as Prince Harry, Elton John, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They are real names of Vladimir Kuznetsov & Alexei Stolyarov. However, they have denied any links to Russian security agencies.
