British Foreign Secretary Tricked by Russian Pranksters in Hoax Call
Larry and Mephi, the comedians who have previously telephoned political figures interested in Moscow, posted online on Wednesday a video clip of a videoconference in which British foreign secretary David David Cameron End camouflaged as the ex-Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.
It also becomes evident that earlier this month, the British authorities, which are headquartered in the building of Foreign Office in London, openly stated that Cameron fell for this kind of prank and did have a video conference with someone, who impersonated Poroshenko, but later found out that the man he was talking to was a fake. The call, roughly 15 minutes long, revealed Cameron in casual wear and unexpectedly answering his mobile phone outdoors. Incidentally, the prank was pulled by two controversial Russian personalities using the names Vovan and Lexus.
These clumsy pranksters are specifically infamous in Russia for calling several local leaders from the West in the last few years with their practical jokes, and they managed to fool many of them; some of them include the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Britain’s then defense minister Ben Wallace in the calendar year 2022.
The British Foreign Office pointed out where the call was made within the framework of the Russian special operation to draw attention away from the Russian-Ukrainian war. However, they did not affirm the aspect concerning the video. Vovan and Lexus have refused the connection of their work with Russian intelligence services that have been claimed by the Western media. However, they often tried to get their victims to tell something of interest to the Russian state.
In the additional video from Wednesday, which Reuters did not establish credibility for, Cameron is seen and heard talking, among other things, about matters concerning Ukraine.
Lobbying Trump
Cameron is heard on the phone saying that soon after the Ides of April, he had a private dinner with the U. S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. He has talked about pressuring Trump to have Republicans rally their support behind U. S military assistance to Ukraine. Cameron described the split in the Republican Party over Ukraine and related how when he said to Trump that Putin did not solely crave Crimea and the Donbas region that Russia seized in 2014 and claimed as Russian territory in 2022.
The Washington Post in April said Trump had mulled allowing Putin to retain Crimea and Donbas for the sake of good relations and admitted Trump had not denied the story. Cameron is heard on air saying such an idea is wrong. He said, “Trump is convinced with this strategy, there is a deal to be made, but that’s not how it works because Putin wants so much more. ” He went on to say that he believed Trump would side with the winning team on the battlefield come the presidency.
Cameron also said that Ukraine would not be invited to become a member of NATO at a planned summit because of the United States veto. He dismissed a possible French move to launch troops in Ukraine, saying they would be aspiring to be a target for Putin.
Later in the call, Cameron recalled his encounter with Kazakhstan’s foreign minister in April. The minister had complained that Russia “wanted a share” of northern Kazakhstan, where Russians’ ethnic brethren live.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement: We made public that this call happened weeks ago to do the right thing and inform others of the risks as soon as possible. Appearing to disagree with the foreign secretary about a privacy call with a Ukrainian politician, the spokesman said that the Kremlin was trying to spread false information to divert attention from its unlawful activities in Ukraine and the human rights infringement going on there.
Russia has always refuted allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.
