UK Foreign Secretary discusses Russia in a prank call

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‍British foreign secretary Boris Johnson reportedly held an 18-minute-long call with two Russian pranksters who pretended to be the newly appointed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asking advice for dealing with Russia.

The hoax phone call was recorded and shared on Youtube and Twitter on Thursday, and has been viewed over 100,000 times. In the exchanged conversations, Johnson discussed relations with Russia, the Iran nuclear deal and the Syrian war with the prankster duo Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, known by their monikers Lexus and Vovan.

Russian pranksters Lexus and Vovan. /Screenshot from Youtube

Britain’s foreign office later confirmed that Johnson had been hoaxed and called the perpetrator “childish”. “The Foreign Secretary realized it was a hoax and ended the call. We checked it out and knew immediately it was a prank call,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said an investigation was under way “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.

In the meantime, the audio clips are still accessible via social media platforms.

The prank call video on Youtube. /Screenshot from Youtube

In the prank call with one of the pranksters, Johnson opened up the conversation by congratulating Pashinyan on winning the election and expressing that he understands the difficult challenge for the Armenian prime minister to balance “between Russia and the West.”

The hoax Armenian prime minister responded by mentioning his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi and asked Johnson for advice on preparation.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. /Xinhua Photo

“I hope he will not poison me with novichok,” the prankster joked, referring to the nerve agent reportedly used in March to attack ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, for which Britain has blamed Russia. Johnson can be heard chuckling on the other end of the line and went on to respond.

“If I have a message to Putin, it is that we don’t want a cold war,” Johnson said. “But we do want to see an improvement in the way Russia behaves.”

The two later exchanged opinions on dealing with Russian oligarchs, UK’s stance on Iran nuclear deal and conflicts in Syria, until the call was cut off abruptly by the UK side, the Guardian reports.

Vovan and Lexus are known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians with their audacious stunts. Their previous targets include US ambassador to UN Nikki Haley and British singer Elton John.

(With imputs from Reuters.)