‘I need to speak to my Prime Minister’: Moment Ben Wallace was duped by Russian pranksters posing as Ukraine’s PM into 10-minute video chat after No 10 said Kremlin was ‘directly responsible’ for embarrassing hoax
- Secretary Ben Wallace in a teaser clip is seen talking to Russian pranksters
- The YouTube prankster duo posed as Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal
- Downing Street has publicly blamed Russia for being behind the hoax calls
- Wallace ‘cross and embarrassed’ by fake politician who managed to get through
A teaser of a clip has been released, seemingly showing Ben Wallace speaking with Russian imposters posing as a Ukrainian politician asking to ‘continue the nuclear programme’.
The Defence Secretary was by pranksters asked for ‘help’ regarding the suggestion, ‘in order to protect ourselves from Russia’.
This comes as No 10 has publicly blamed the Kremlin for being behind hoax calls which targeted a trio of Cabinet ministers last week.
A hesitant Mr Wallace, calling in from Poland, in the video replies that ‘more than being neutral Russia will really hate that’ but concludes that ‘the principle is, we will support Ukraine as our friend in the choices you make’.
Mr Wallace added: ‘On all those bigger questions, those are questions that I need to speak to my Prime Minister (about).’
A teaser of a clip has been released, showing Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (pictured) speaking with Russian imposters posing as a Ukrainian prime minister
A hesitant Mr Wallace in the video replies that ‘more than being neutral Russia will really hate that’
The teaser was posted on the YouTube channel Vovan222prank, which has more than 121,000 subscribers.
The video description read: ‘On March 17, 2022, Vovan and Lexus held a video conference with British Defense Minister Ben Wallace on behalf of Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmyhal.’
Vovan and Lexus are understood to be Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, famous Russian pranksters who have pranked a number of high-profile politicians, including Bernie Sanders, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
The duo have also pranked JohnMcCain and Elton John.
He spent around 10 minutes on a Microsoft Teams call with a man claiming to be Denys Shmyhal (pictured right, next to Volodymyr Zelensky)
In 2018 the pair got to Boris Johnson, impersonating Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia.
In an interview with Sky News at the time, Stolyarov detailed how Sir Alan Duncan, then Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, put them in touch with Mr Johnson when he was Foreign Secretary.
‘We decided to call from the new authorities of Armenia and we heard that Sir Duncan congratulated Prime Minister,’ he said.
‘At first we called him and had some conversation where we asked him to arrange a new phone call, but with foreign secretary. So it was pretty nice I think.’
Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, also known as Vovan and Lexus, in 2017
There are rumours that the prankster pair works for the Russian authorities or even the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, but they have denied this.
It was in 2015 reported that Vovan was offered a job at Russia’s state Channel 1.
In an article from seven years ago Vovan denied allegations that he works for the Kremlin, saying: ‘We don’t have orders for prank…We are not anyone’s service staff, we are quite independent people.
‘It’s suspected that we work for the Kremlin and the FSB, they recently wrote that I work for Tina Kandelaki (a journalist who supports Vladimir Putin), I was even upset at such a downgrade.’
Downing Street said the hoax video calls to UK ministers were an attempt by Vladimir Putin’s regime to distract from military problems in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We are seeing a string of distraction stories and outright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putin’s desperation as he seeks to hide the scale of the conflict and Russia’s failings on the battlefield.’
Senior Government sources fear the Russians may attempt to doctor footage obtained in the calls in an attempt to embarrass the UK.
The Defence Secretary is on the warpath after being duped into the 10-minute video chat, his deputy revealed today.
Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Kuznetsov, and Alexei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov at a bar in Moscow, on March 14, 2016
James Heappey said the Cabinet minister could dish out a ‘good b*llocking’ after being left ‘cross and embarrassed’ by a fake politician who managed to get through several Government departments to speak to him about the war.
Mr Wallace lashed out last night at the Kremlin’s ‘dirty tricks’ after he and Home Secretary Priti Patel were targeted.
He spent around 10 minutes on a Microsoft Teams call with a man claiming to be Denys Shmyhal, who asked about British policy and eventually urged him to shout slogans.
Armed Forces Minister Mr Heappey insisted that Mr Wallace would have followed security protocols and would not have discussed secret matters on Teams before he became suspicious and hung up.
He admitted aides were facing ‘tough questions’ over how the fake managed to bypass security in several departments.
Mr Wallace (left) lashed out last night at the Kremlin’s ‘dirty tricks’ after he and Home Secretary Priti Patel were targeted.
He spent around 10 minutes on a Microsoft Teams call with a man claiming to be Denys Shmyhal (right), who asked about British policy and eventually urged him to shout slogans.
Armed Forces Minister Mr Heappey insisted that Mr Wallace would have followed security protocols and would not have discussed secret matters on Teams before he became suspicious and hung up.
‘But you also know that he’s been a security minister for years before he’s promoted to be Secretary of Defence. He just instinctively understands threat and is always aware of the means of communication that he’s on,’ Mr Heappey added.
‘He knew he was on Microsoft Teams. He was having a conversation with someone who he believed to be the Prime Minister of Ukraine. But because it was on Teams, all that Ben was really doing was exchanging platitudes.
‘And Ben’s suspicions, because of the way that Ben’s mind is so well attuned to security matters, when this guy started asking questions about potential military movements, Ben knew full well that’s not the sort of question that anybody who was really who they say they were, would ever ask on Teams. And so he moved pretty quickly to terminate the call thereafter.’
The level of sophistication involved in the hoax has convinced Government sources that it was a Russian plot.
The video call was set up after an email, purportedly sent from an aide at the Ukrainian embassy, was sent to a government department and then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence.
The call was set up and Mr Wallace was put through on Teams to the ‘prime minister of Ukraine’, posing with the country’s flag behind him.
The Times reported that Mr Wallace was asked about the chances of UK warships going to the Black sea and whether Ukraine should get nuclear weapons or join Nato.
Senior Ministry of Defence sources fear Moscow may attempt to splice together Mr Wallace’s comments in an attempt to embarrass him.
He has ordered an immediate inquiry to find out how the impostor was able to speak to him.
His admission was followed by a similar one by Ms Patel, who said she was targeted earlier this week.
The Defence Secretary said it was a ‘desperate attempt’ but ‘no amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks’ could distract from the human rights abuses carried out during the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Mr Wallace revealed he had been targeted by the hoax call in a Twitter post.
The fact that a hoax caller was able to speak directly to the Defence Secretary raises security questions, particularly given Mr Wallace’s suggestion that Russia was behind it.
He said: ‘Today an attempt was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian PM to speak with me.
‘He posed several misleading questions and after becoming suspicious I terminated the call.
‘No amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks can distract from Russia’s human rights abuses and illegal invasion of Ukraine. A desperate attempt.’
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