Russia targets UK government with 'hoax' calls to Priti Patel, Downing Street claims

dailystar.co.uk:

Russia are growing after Downing Street accused Russia of being behind hoax calls targeting two British ministers Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel were the targets of the hoax, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman.The spokesman said that they had been targeted by calls from imposters last week.They said: "The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week."Last week it was revealed by Mr Wallace that he was video-called by a fake, posing as Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and it later emerged that Ms Patel was a victim of the hoax call, too.Mr Wallace tweeted, at the time: "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."The spokesman added: "This is standard practice for Russian information operations, and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook - to try and distract from the illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed."Mr Wallace had previously said he believed Russia was behind the incident but this is the first time the Government has directly blamed the Kremlin.Number 10 has also claimed that the hoaxers also tried to target Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, but failed to do so - it was not clear how this attempt was known or stopped.The spokesman added that while the government does "generally have strong protections in place to guard against this sort of thing", an inquiry will be taking place to find out how it happened.According to journalist Adam Payne, Russia will likely release "doctored recordings of the calls with Wallace and Patel to spread.