Defence secretary Ben Wallace expressed his anger with British officials over a hoax call from an imposter claiming to be the Ukrainian prime minister, a fellow minister has said.
Armed Forces minister James Heappey said Mr Wallace “can issue a good b******ing” following the apparent breach of security the government has blamed on Russia.
Asked about Mr Wallace and the fake call on LBC, Mr Heappey said: “He was pretty cross. He was, I think, embarrassed that it had happened, and he’s asked some pretty tough questions of the department about how it happened.”
The minister added: “He can dish out a good b******ing when he needs to.”
Russia has been accused of “dirty tricks” and a cross-Whitehall security inquiry has been launched after home secretary Priti Patel and Mr Wallace were targeted.
The alarm was raised by Mr Wallace after he became suspicious during a 10-minute video call on Thursday, with the defence secretary publicly accusing Russia of being behind it.
The defence secretary said it was a “desperate attempt” but “no amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks” could distract from the human rights abuses carried out during the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Ms Patel said she had also been targeted. “This also happened to me earlier this week. Pathetic attempt at such difficult times to divide us. We stand with Ukraine.”
Mr Wallace’s Microsoft Teams video call was set up after an email, purportedly from an aide at the Ukrainian embassy, was sent to a government department and then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), The Independent understands.
Mr Heappey said the discussion was “bland” and the defence secretary did not disclose anything sensitive – despite questions about British military plans.
“Ben is a guy that understands threat very well. He was acutely aware he was on Microsoft Teams call, and therefore he would not ever disclose any sensitive details on a platform that can be very easily intercepted,” he told Sky News.
Mr Heappey added: “When the caller started to asked pointed questions about our intentions militarily in the region … he became suspicious and terminated the call.”
Meanwhile, Mr Heappey said that Russia’s war in Ukraine was “not going well at all”, but added: “Any idea that the military combat will bring itself to a combination soon is that is overly optimistic.”
The defence minister said the West may have a role to play in brokering a peace deal but it was up to the Ukrainians to decide what terms they could accept.
“This can’t go indefinitely,” he told Sky News. “Those are decisions entirely for president Zelensky and his government. It is not for the West to trade away Ukrainian sovereignty.”
Mr Heappey said Putin bears ultimate “culpability” for any war crimes being committed by his forces in Ukraine – but warned that the entire Russian military chain of command would be held responsible for their actions.
“The evidence being gathered points very much towards war crimes being committed in Ukraine,” he told Sky News following the deadly strike on a theatre in the city of Mariupol.
He added: “It is not just Putin who ends up being responsible for war crimes as and when the evidence is gathered and people are held to account. Every single person in the military chain of command cannot just hide behind the line they are only following orders.”
The Armed Forces minister also said the latest missile strike by Russia in western Ukraine was a cause for concern, after an aircraft maintenance plant close to Lviv airport was reportedly hit in the strike early on Friday.
