The defence secretary of the United Kingdom (UK) Ben Wallace revealed that an imposter posing him as the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, made a video call to him earlier this week. Wallace has ordered an investigation into the incident.
He has informed about the incident via a series of tweets where he has mentioned that an imposter called him and then asked him to chant slogans, as quoted by reports.
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 1/2
— Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) March 17, 2022
The call has lasted for around 10 minutes, but Wallace said that after sensing that it was a prank call, he immediately disconnected the call.
Earlier, the UK’s home secretary, Priti Patel, also said that she also received a similar call. Wallace and Patel have blamed Russia for being behind these calls.
Wallace has mentioned via tweets, “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.”
Although, the incidents were blamed for being caused by Russian agents, the calls being connected to top government officials in the United Kingdom raises concerns regarding cybersecurity in the UK.
After the call was set up, Wallace was put through on Teams and came face-to-face with a man virtually behind who was a Ukrainian flag. Wallace became doubtful when a man wanted him to chant slogans and continuously asking about the British policy. It was then Wallace felt doubtful and disconnected the call.
