British Official Demands Prank Call Removal From YouTube

On Wednesday, London asked YouTube to remove the video of the prank call which targeted British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace performed by pranksters Vovan and Lexus, where they pretended to be the Ukrainian Prime Minister.

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The UK claims that the video is part of propaganda by the Russian state that was manipulated to show falsehoods and undermine British reputation and Kiev's morale. “We are calling on YouTube to help us support Ukraine by taking down videos doctored by the Russian state and disseminated to try and sap the morale of a people fighting for their freedom,” the Defense Ministry (MoD) in London said.

The British Ministry sent a latter which lacks the name of both the sender and the recipient, where it claims that “the Russian State was responsible for the hoax call,” adding that “Russian disinformation presented in this video creates a substantial risk to UK national security” and the “risk to international unity working to support Ukraine.”

The Ministry of Defense in London alleges that the videos were “modified and edited” with the intention to show Wallace saying things that are not true, among which are that the UK is “running out of our own” NLAW anti-tank missiles. The MoD appointed in the latter that this is “factually incorrect. We have no supply shortages.” The Ministry  described as false the statement indicating that the NLAWS sent to Ukraine “often failed.”

“Any perceived failure of our lethal aid supplied to support Ukraine will provide an immediate detrimental effect upon the morale of Ukrainian forces,” disclosed the letter. “I am confident you would not wish to be a conduit for Russian propaganda or be in any way associated with the potential consequences of this type of media manipulation,” stated the unnamed MoD official to YouTube, demanding the removal of the video, or at least blocking any videos of the call.

Last Thursday the Defense Secretary claimed he hung up on the person pretending to be Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal after getting suspicious about the “misleading” questions. Furthermore, the Microsoft Teams disclosed that the call lasted for almost 10 minutes, and came while Wallace was visiting Poland.

The British official blamed the Russian government, saying it was an example of “Russian disinformation, distortion, and dirty tricks,” ordering an internal security investigation into how the pranksters were able to contact him.