Ben Wallace bullishly hits back after Russia releases clip of hoax video call
‘Not the actions of a confident Government’: Ben Wallace bullishly hits back after Russia releases clip of hoax video call by pranksters who also fooled Prince Harry and Boris Johnson
Secretary Ben Wallace in a teaser clip is seen talking to Russian prankstersThe YouTube prankster duo posed as Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal Downing Street has publicly blamed Russia for being behind the hoax callsMr Wallace compared incident to notorious Salisbury Cathedral spire video
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Ben Wallace has hit back after being targeted by Russian pranksters posing as Ukraine’s Prime Minister, saying ‘things must be going badly for the Kremlin’ if it was resorting to ‘video fakes’ after the footage emerged online last night.
The Defence Secretary is shown speaking from Poland as the caller, purporting to be Denys Shmyhal, says Ukraine wants to continue a ‘nuclear programme’ to protect itself from Russia, a claim Russian state media has baselessly claimed in the past.
A hesitant Mr Wallace apparently replies ‘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’.
He adds: ‘On all those bigger questions, those are questions that I need to speak to my Prime Minister (about).’
A Ministry of Defence source said the video was ‘garbage’, adding: ‘It’s a doctored clip. What you don’t hear is the Defence Secretary also saying that the UK can’t have anything to do with alleged Ukrainian nuclear ambitions, because the UK is committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.’
Mr Wallace made fun of the incident by sharing an image of a notorious interview in which the two Russian suspects in the Salisbury poisoning claimed to have visited the city to admire the cathedral’s spire.
Alongside it he wrote: ‘Things must be going so badly for the Kremlin that they are now resorting to pranks and video fakes. Not the actions of a confident Government, but then again after the Salisbury Cathedral sightseeing story, anything is possible.’
It comes as Number 10 publicly blamed the Kremlin for being behind hoax calls which targeted a trio of Cabinet ministers last week.
The Defence Secretary is shown speaking from Poland as the caller, purporting to be Denys Shmyhal, says Ukraine wants to continue a ‘nuclear programme’ to protect itself from Russia
Mr Wallace hit back by sharing image of the notorious interview in which the two Russian suspects in the Salisbury poisoning claimed to have visited the city to admire the cathedral’s spire
Mr Wallace did not appear to say anything particularly embarrassing or alarming in the video, but it did tout a ‘full interview’ within ‘a few days’.
The teaser was posted on the YouTube channel Vovan222prank, which has more than 121,000 subscribers.
It is understood discussions were under way with YouTube to get the video removed.
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 John McCain and Elton John.
In 2020 the YouTube channel also featured a prank call with Prince Harry, in which the royal believed he was talking to Greta Thunberg and said Donald Trump has ‘blood on his hands’.
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.’
He spent around 10 minutes on a Microsoft Teams call with a man claiming to be Denys Shmyhal (pictured right, next to Volodymyr Zelensky)
Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, also known as Vovan and Lexus, in 2017
Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Kuznetsov, and Alexei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov at a bar in Moscow, on March 14, 2016
There are rumours the pranksters work for the Russian authorities or even the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, although they deny this.
However, their targets all appear to be Kremlin critics, and Stolyarov himself has admitted they have their own ‘internal censorship’.
‘We wouldn’t prank Putin,’ he told the Guardian. ‘We don’t want to harm our country. We don’t want unrest here; we don’t want to do anything that would help the enemies of Russia.’
Vovan was offered a job at Russia’s state Channel 1 in 2015, according to reports.
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.’
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey insisted that Mr Wallace had 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.
‘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.’
His admission was followed by a similar one by Ms Patel, who said she was targeted earlier this week.
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.
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.
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.
