Two Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus (actual names Vladimir Kuznetsov and Aleksei Stolyarov) controlled to trick UK House Secretary Priti Patel into a fifteen mins lengthy telephone name. Posing as Ukrainian High Minister Denys Shmyhal, the duo mentioned the continuing Ukrainian conflict and Britain’s give a boost to for Ukraine with the House Secretary. Patel was once the second one UK Minister to develop into a goal of the comedy duo after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had a ten mins lengthy Groups name with them.
Sitting in her administrative center in entrance of a Union Jack and a Ukraine flag, Patel mentioned all sides of the Ukraine conflict, together with the refugee disaster and UK’s reaction to that. Professionals have been debating whether or not the video was once spliced, to glue other solutions to other inquiries to make the House Secretary’s solutions glance foolish upon viewing.
At one level, the pranksters requested Patel if UK will likely be petrified of the Neo-Nazis from Ukraine, and he or she answered ,”Obviously they’re now not, the give a boost to could be very important right here, it in reality is.” She additionally admitted all through the decision that they pressurized Kenya and UAE to give a boost to Ukraine within the ongoing conflict in opposition to Russia.
As the decision went on, fact slowly dawned on Priti Patel because the caller stored pronouncing an increasing number of absurd issues, together with praising the honest trial of Julian Assange, who the caller claimed drank numerous UK’s blood.
Previous, the pranksters had launched the video in their name with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, wherein Wallace advised the pranksters that Britain sought after Ukraine to enroll in NATO however was once blocked through different international locations.
The federal government assets in Britain have alleged that those prank calls are a part of Russian propaganda, and an try to unfold disinformation the usage of edited clips. Vovan and Lexus had been accused of getting hyperlinks with Russian intelligence previously, a rate they’ve denied.
Those aren’t the primary circumstances of UK politicians falling prey to prank calls. In 2018, Boris Johnson, who was once international secretary on the time, had an 18 mins telephone name with a prankster pretending to be Armenian High Minister. In any other example, a prank caller pretending to be the manager of Executive Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the United Kingdom was once put via to former High Minister David Cameron.