UK says Russia made hoax calls to British ministers

Bloomberg

The UK blamed Russia for hoax calls made last week to three cabinet ministers, calling it “standard practice” from the Kremlin as Vladimir Putin’s administration seeks to distract from its failings on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel both said last week they’d received calls by impostors posing as the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. A “similar attempt” was made to reach Culture Secretary
Nadine Dorries but was unsuccessful, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters.
“This is standard practice for Russian information operations, and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin play book to try and distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there,” Blain said. “This is something that the Russian state tries repeatedly. It won’t be the last attempt, for sure.”
That the caller managed to connect to two high-ranking ministers raises questions about security and confidentiality at the top of the British government, and Blain said there’s an inquiry into the incidents. Wallace told the Times newspaper it was a video call that he’d terminated after becoming suspicious when the person “posed several misleading questions.”