UK probing Russian pranksters' phone call as Armenia PM

PanARMENIAN.Net - Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked international relations and rude poetry with a hoax caller who pretended to be the Armenian prime minister in a new gaffe by one of Britain’s most prominent politicians.

Britain’s foreign office confirmed that Johnson had been hoaxed and said the perpetrator was “childish”, while a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said an investigation was under way “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”, Reuters reports.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” the spokeswoman said.

In the 18-minute call, Johnson discussed relations with Russia, the Iran nuclear deal and the Syrian war, according to audio of the call uploaded on YouTube and shared on the Twitter pages of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus.

The caller, impersonating Armenia’s new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, said he was going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and asked Johnson’s advice for dealing with him.

“I hope he will not poison me with Novichok,” the prankster joked, referring to a nerve agent used in the March attack on 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.

Later in the call, Johnson said he would like to come to Armenia to find out more about “Armenia’s Novichok experiences”, and they also talk about sanctions against Russia and high-profile individuals.

“You throw a stone in Kensington and you’ll hit an oligarch,” Johnson said, in reference to the central London district favored by Russian tycoons. “Some of them are close to Putin and some of them aren’t.”

Vovan and Lexus are known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians with their audacious stunts, and in 2015 they prank-called British singer Elton John.

Johnson too is no stranger to controversy. In the run-up to Britain’s 2016 referendum on EU membership, the prominent Brexiteer compared the goals of the European Union to those of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, causing consternation in European capitals.