The idea Britain is running out of NLAW anti-tank missiles is ‘b******s’ and a video showing Ben Wallace apparently suggesting this is the case has been faked by pro-Kremlin propagandists, a senior UK official has said

The idea Britain is running out of NLAW anti-tank missiles is ‘b******s’ and a video showing Ben Wallace apparently suggesting this is the case has been faked by pro-Kremlin propagandists, a senior UK official has said. 

The clip is the second teaser released by a pair of Russian ‘pranksters’ accused of taking their orders from the Kremlin, and was today met with a furious response from the British government. 

‘That whole video has not only been spliced, it has been cut.We are not out of NLAWs – it is just b******s,’ a senior official told MailOnline today. ‘We have got loads. We make them in Belfast.’

Mr Wallace is thought to have said words to the effect that he would have to ‘check we are not running out’, as he was already suspicious of the caller, who was posing as Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal.

The minister is said to have also made points about defending the freedom of the press and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty during the call – footage that has not been released.

At one point he told the callers that he could not answer specific strategic questions because ‘the Russians will be listening’.

The official stressed that the callers were being told what to do by Putin. ‘They are not pranksters, they are directed by the Russian state,’ they added.

The duo, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, have also targeted Prince Harry.They have commented openly about being sympathetic to Vladimir Putin and are suspected of being Russian agents, although they deny this. Should you loved this information and you would want to receive more details with regards to Lawyer Law Firm in Turkey generously visit our own webpage.  

It is believed that their hoax initially targeted Priti Patel, and the Home Office then passed on a request for a call with Mr Wallace to the MoD – which appears to have assumed protocols had already been established.

An inquiry has been launched into why proper checks were not carried out on the source of the call, with Mr Wallace said to be ‘p***ed off’ at the system failure. The government confirmed today it is talking to video platform YouTube about trying to get the footage taken down. 

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘I know that DCMS are speaking to YouTube about this.

‘We believe, Lawyer Law Firm in Turkey as I say, this is disinformation carried out at the behest of the Russian state and we don’t think social media companies or Law Firm in Lawyer istanbul Turkey other sites should be promoting it.’