LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Three hoax calls to the Cabinet ministers of the UK were made by Russia, according to Downing Street.
After Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel were targeted in what Downing Street believes was a Russian scheme, a cross-Whitehall security investigation has been initiated.
There was a third attempt to call Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, but it was fruitless.
The hoax calls were “straight from the Kremlin playbook,” according to the Prime Minister’s official spokesman on Monday.
It is the first time that the United Kingdom has publicly implicated Russia for the disinformation campaign.
“The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week,” the PM’s spokesman stated.
“This is typical procedure for Russian information operations, and deception is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook, designed to divert attention away from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights violations that are occurring there.”
“We’re seeing a spate of distraction tales and downright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putin’s urgency to conclude the fight and Russia’s feelings on the battlefield.”
Despite the fact that Ms Patel and Ms Dorries were also targeted, Downing Street has argued that Britain’s national security has not been jeopardised.
Mr Wallace was “very cross” as it shouldn’t have been allowed to happen according to James Heappey, Minister of the Armed Forces.
Mr Heappey told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that “Ben’s suspicions were aroused because someone, if he was who he said he was, would have understood fully well that you don’t discuss military activities on Teams because the Russians are watching.”
“Priti, like Ben, deals with national security issues on a daily basis. When dealing with subjects as sensitive as those handled by the great offices of state, you develop an instinct for what you should say on each mode of communication.
“I am confident that Priti was aware that she was on a Teams call.” The subject would have been suitable for a Teams call no matter how long it went on.”
Mr Wallace stated that he grew suspicious and hung up the phone after “several misleading questions”.
Officials are said to have connected him to the video call, which lasted about 10 minutes, rather than calling his phone directly.
Ms Patel eventually revealed that she, too, had been targeted, though the Home Office refused to elaborate.
The PM’s spokesman went on to say: “We know that the Russian government has tried this before.
“It won’t be the last attempt to ensure that we have robust measures in place to prevent this sort of behaviour, and we will call it out when we see it, just like we are doing today.”
He went on to say: “As I have stated, the Russian state and others attempt similar things on a daily basis, whether it is cyber hacking or other means, and the vast majority are stopped.
“And it’s obvious that what happened here wasn’t supposed to happen. That is why an investigation has been launched.”
Mr Wallace went public because he was concerned that Russia may try to tamper with the call’s video or audio for propaganda purposes.
After an email supposedly from a Ukrainian embassy assistant was submitted to a government department and then passed to the Ministry of Defence, the video call was set up.
