LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was left embarrassed after being tricked into an 18-minute telephone conversation with “Kremlin-linked” pranksters.
A pair of notorious Russian jokers managed to discuss sensitive issues such as the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia with Johnson before he rumbled them.
The security services are now helping Whitehall uncover how Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, known as Lexus and Vovan, managed to get through to Johnson.
The pranksters have already claimed a series of high-profile victims including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Sir Elton John.
In their call to Johnson they pretended to be newly-elected Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Johnson did not reveal any classified information during the call. But he did discuss sensitive topics, including the Skripals, UK relations with Russia and British plans to “tighten the grip” on Russian oligarchs in London.
Stolyarov yesterday told pro-Kremlin media that Johnson had turned out to be “a smart diplomat”.
He said: “It was probably the first time the person we talked to was not a fool.”
Whitehall sources said the prank followed a brief call by the jokers to Johnson’s deputy, Sir Alan Duncan, who suggested the foreign secretary should talk to them. It is understood that the move may have enabled the pranksters to bypass normal foreign office procedures and get through to Johnson directly.
The conversation with Johnson was held three weeks ago, but only emerged on Thursday when a recording of it was released by the pranksters.
The foreign secretary can be heard congratulating the caller (then assumed to be Pashinyan) on his “remarkable success” in taking charge in Armenia, a former Soviet republic. He then embarked on a lengthy discussion on relations with Russia, saying “it is very important we don’t have a new Cold War”.
“Obviously we had hoped to have better relations with Russia than we currently do. I’m afraid Russia seems to be unable to resist malign activity of one kind or another,” Johnson said, adding, “If I have a message for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, it’s that we don’t want a Cold War but we do want to see an improvement in the way Russia behaves”.
Johnson said Moscow had made “a terrible mistake” in ordering the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. Asked whether he was sure the Kremlin was behind attack, Johnson said: “We are, like, almost 100% sure.” He said Britain was “absolutely determined to stand firm” against Russian aggression.
And he suggested pro-Putin Russian oligarchs living in London could face further restrictive measures, saying: “We will continue to look for ways that we can tighten our grip... introduce fresh sanctions on those who may have ill-gotten gains and who are associated with Vladimir Putin.
“You throw a stone in Kensington and you’ll find you’ll hit an oligarch,” Johnston said.
The prankster claimed Putin was funding Britain’s Labour Party and had “influence” over its leader, Jeremy Corbyn. The call finally ended when the prankster tried to interest Johnson in obtaining an “antidote” to Russian poisons, which he said was carried by the Ukrainian president.
Extracts from the joke call:
Prankster: “I talked to Mr Putin by telephone. He says even in the UK he has his people... he says he has influence over the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Corbyn.”
Boris Johnson: “Really? He told you that he was influencing Jeremy Corbyn? Did he go into detail, or just say Jeremy Corbyn was somebody he was able to influence?”
Prankster: “He said his goddaughter, she visited London and met with people of Mr Corbyn and gave them money.”