Britain has accused Russia of spreading propaganda to distract from its atrocities in Ukraine after a second hoax video featuring Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was published.
Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has been squarely blamed for impostors’ calls to three cabinet ministers, as officials struggle to get the clips removed from YouTube.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) described the videos as “doctored clips” from the “Russian state” and warned against believing their contents.
In the second video, released on Tuesday, Mr Wallace seemingly suggests to the caller, posing as Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, that the UK is “running out of our own” NLAW anti-tank weapons.
The MoD said Britain has provided more than 4,000 NLAWs to Ukraine’s forces but still has “enough weapons systems to defend both UK national security and maintain our commitments” to Nato.
“This video, like most Russian propaganda, is fed out to obscure and manipulate the truth,” the statement said.
“People should be very sceptical about reporting on, and accepting as real, any part of these Russian state doctored clips.”
Talks were still ongoing to get the first clip — published on Monday evening — removed before the second emerged.
They are presented as being from the self-styled pranksters “Vovan and Lexus” but No.10 insisted the Kremlin was behind the attempted smears.
-
A firefighter works at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman removes pieces of broken glass from a shop window after a bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
Residents clean the street outside apartments damaged by shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A man walks at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Rescuers work at the site of buildings damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Launch of missiles by the coastal missile system 'Bastion' on infrastructure facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from an undisclosed position in Crimea. As a result of a strike with long-range precision weapons, an arsenal with weapons and military equipment of Ukrainian troops in the village of Orzhev, 14 kilometres north-west of the city of Rivne, two Tochka-U launchers near Kiev, and eight anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed. EPA -
Pictures lie amidst the rubble of former teacher Natalia's house which was was hit in a military strike, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman rests at his position in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A hug for a child at the railway station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, as Ukrainian refugees make their way out of the war zone. AFP -
Displaced Ukrainians on a Poland-bound train bid farewell at Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen rest in Kharkiv. AP -
A car wrecked and burnt by shelling in a street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A member of pro-Russian unit in uniform without insignia handles a mortar round at a weapons depot near Marinka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Reuters -
The aftermath of shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. EPA -
Nurses in tears after Russian shelling of a psychiatric hospital in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP -
Candles and lights form a giant peace sign during the Avaaz vigil in front of the European Council and Commission buildings in Brussels, Belgium. AP -
A wrecked car in a ruined street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Rescue workers at an industrial building damaged by an air strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
The monument to the Duke of Richelieu, one of the founders of the city of Odesa, is covered by sand bags. Near by, a placard shows the building before the Russian invasion. EPA -
People clean up a room in an apartment building in Kyiv destroyed in an air raid, as Russia presses on with its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
An instructor shows citizens how to fire the weapon during a shooting training session in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. Reuters -
Russian troops hurl stun grenades at demonstrators protesting against the invasion, in Kherson, Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen stand guard at a military checkpoint in Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees Sasha Alexandra and Olena embrace shortly before being allowed to cross into the United States to seek asylum in Tijuana, Mexico. They fled their city of Dnipro this month and travelled to Germany before flying to Mexico. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a broadcast speech in Kyiv, calling on citizens to 'drive the occupiers out'. EPA -
An unexploded rocket in a cemetery in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP -
A portrait of a young woman who died during a Russian attack, next to her fresh grave in the Mykolaiv cemetery. AFP -
Tents set up for Ukrainian refugees inside a train station in Bucharest, Romania. AFP -
Workers cover a sculpture outside the home of Lviv National Opera to protect it from damage amid fighting in Ukraine. Reuters -
Olena, the mother of Denys Snihur, a 25-year-old soldier killed by Russian shelling in the northern town of Ovruch, mourns him at his funeral in Lviv. Reuters -
All that is left of a shopping centre after shelling in Kyiv. AP -
Civilian volunteers attend a Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces training camp in Brovary, north-east of Kyiv. AP -
Refugees at a temporary accommodation centre in a school gymnasium in Taganrog, Russia. EPA -
Oil storage tanks burn in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in a satellite image from Maxar Technologies. EPA -
President Joe Biden discusses the US response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the Business Roundtable CEO Quarterly Meeting. EPA -
The wreck of a Russian military vehicle near Kharkiv. EPA -
Firefighters work at the site of a shopping centre bombing in Kyiv. Reuters -
Seven-year-old Amellia Anisovych, a refugee from Ukraine, sings the Ukraine national anthem at the start of a fund-raising concert in Lodz, Poland. Amellia became known for singing a song from the film 'Frozen' in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AP -
People queue at the National Stadium in Warsaw to apply for ID numbers that will entitle them to work and receive free health care and education in Poland. AP -
Checkout tills are damaged at a supermarket in a shopping centre that was damaged in a bombing in Kyiv. Reuters -
Cars are damaged at the site of a bombing at a shopping center in Kyiv. Reuters -
A woman comforts a boy while refugees wait for Ukrainian police to check their papers and belongings in Brovary, Ukraine. AP -
A refugee family sit in front of a tent at a temporary shelter offered by the Free Christian Church in Uszka, Hungary. Getty Images -
Firefighters carry a ladder across the debris following Russian shellings that destroyed the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv. AFP -
A rescuer inside a shopping mall damaged by an airstrike in Kyiv. Reuters
The prime minister’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.”
He added: “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.”
Downing Street was braced for more videos of Mr Wallace to emerge and acknowledged it was possible footage of a hoax call with Home Secretary Priti Patel could be published.
Mr Wallace has described terminating the call after “becoming suspicious”, with sources suggesting the call lasted about 10 minutes.
But the perpetrators claimed it lasted 22 minutes before ending on a “benevolent mutual farewell”.
“Vovan and Lexus” have previously targeted the Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John, a vocal opponent of Russia’s “gay propaganda” laws, critics of the Kremlin and world leaders including Canada’s Justin Trudeau.
The pair, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, have been accused of having links to Russian security services, which they deny.
Mr Wallace publicly acknowledged he had been targeted shortly after his call on Thursday, as he tried 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.
