The UK has accused the Kremlin of propagating “propaganda” by posting “Russian state doctored clips” after a second hoax video featuring Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was published on Tuesday.
The clip appears to show part of a call on March 17 between Wallace and Russian hoaxers Vladimir “Vovan” Kuznetsov and Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov, who were posing as representatives of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal. The first clip of the video was posted on Monday.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has also said she had been targeted by calls from imposters last week, and Downing Street revealed an unsuccessful attempt was also made to contact Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) accused the Russian state of being behind the prank call to Wallace, calling the latest video another example of “Russian state doctored clips” and a Russian “attempt to spread disinformation.”
The clip appeared to show Wallace saying the UK was “running out of our own” Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAWs) as it had given Ukraine 4,000 of them and was sending more to the war-torn country.
“Update on Russia’s latest attempt to spread disinformation: The UK has provided over 4,000 NLAWs to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to continue their resistance against Russian aggression,” the post reads.
“The UK has enough weapons systems to defend both UK national security and maintain our commitments to @NATO. This includes a wide range of different systems,” the MoD added.
“This video, like most Russian propaganda, is fed out to obscure and manipulate the truth. People should be very sceptical about reporting on, and accepting as real, any part of these Russian state doctored clips.”
After the first part of the prank call was released on Monday, Wallace said, “Things must be going so badly for the Kremlin that they are now resorting to pranks and video fakes.”
The defence secretary has described having terminated the call after “becoming suspicious,” with sources suggesting the call lasted around 10 minutes, but the perpetrators claimed it lasted 22 minutes before ending on a “benevolent mutual farewell,” and said it would publish the “full conversation” in the coming days.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “We believe the Russian state was responsible and I’m unable to go into more detail about the information that sits behind that.
“It is standard practice for Russian information operations to try and use these tactics, it seeks to be a distraction from their illegal activities in Ukraine, their human rights abuses, and so we will not be distracted from our purpose in ensuring Putin must fail in Ukraine,” he added.
Lexus and Vovan have previously been accused of having links to Russian security services, something they deny.
Wallace publicly acknowledged he had been targeted shortly after his call on March 17 in an attempt to get ahead of any attempt by Moscow to circulate footage from it.
He also launched a cross-Whitehall investigation to understand how he ended up on the video call.
