Two prominent Russian scammers have released footage of a call they made to the UK Defense Secretary.
In a recording posted online, Ben Wallace can be heard speaking in a video call to a man held during a visit by Mr Wallace to Poland on Friday.
Mr Wallace revealed the scam last week, saying he had been targeted by a “conman” posing as Ukraine’s prime minister.
The British government has accused Russia of attacking British ministers with fake calls over the conflict in Ukraine.
Home Secretary Priti Patel revealed she received a prank call last week, while No 10 said Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries had also been targeted.
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The recording of the video call with Mr. Wallace was posted online by Vladimir “Vovan” Kuznetsov and Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov.
The pair have targeted a number of politicians and public figures in the past. They were credited with making a prank call to then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in 2018, during which he was attacked by a caller pretending to be the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Earlier recordings of their alleged conversations were broadcast on Russian television.
In the released footage, which lasts about a minute, Mr Wallace, who is shown in a car, is asked questions about an alleged nuclear weapons program for Ukraine.
A defense source told the BBC the clip had been “treated”.
After the video was released, Mr Wallace said: “Things must be going so badly for the Kremlin that they are now resorting to pranks and video faking.”
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Earlier, Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters that “the Russian state was responsible for the fake phone calls made to British ministers last week”.
The spokesman did not provide any further details, but added: “This is standard practice in Russian information operations.
“Disinformation is a tactic straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook to try to distract attention from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.”
It is understood Mr Wallace was connected to a Microsoft Teams video call that lasted around 10 minutes.
The video call was set up after an email, allegedly from an employee at the Ukrainian embassy in London, was sent to a UK government agency and then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence.
An interdepartmental government investigation into how the call came about is underway.
When asked if the defense against prank calls was strong enough, spokesman No. 10 said there were guidelines on how such calls should be handled.
The Russian duo have also claimed to have interviewed politicians including NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Senator John McCain.
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