Putin's Russia to blame for hoax calls targeting senior ministers, Number 10 says

Russia is to blame for hoax calls targeting three of the UK's most senior politicians, Number 10 has said.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel both spoke to imposters seeking to obtain classified security information, while an unsuccessful attempt was also made to contact Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

Mr Wallace ordered an inquiry into Thursday's hoax call which was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy - Home Secretary Patel said she was targeted in the same way.

And now Boris Johnson's spokesman has publicly said the "Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week".

Downing Street said it was an attempt by Vladimir Putin's regime to distract from military problems in Ukraine, with intelligence officials saying the invasion so far is not going according to plan.

“This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.”

Mr Wallace had previously said he believed Russian "dirty tricks" were behind the incident but this is the first time the government has directly blamed the Kremlin.

He revealed he'd been targeted in a tweet posted on Thursday.

“Today an attempt was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian PM to speak with me. He posed several misleading questions and after becoming suspicious I terminated the call,” Mr Wallace tweeted.

“No amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks can distract from Russia’s human rights abuses and illegal invasion of Ukraine. A desperate attempt.”

Ms Patel retweeted her Cabinet colleague, saying she had also been targeted by a call from an impostor.

“This also happened to me earlier this week. Pathetic attempt at such difficult times to divide us. We stand with Ukraine.”