Video shows David Cameron caught by Russian hoax

David Cameron was filmed speaking to a Russian impostor posing as a former Ukrainian president.

The foreign minister can be seen talking to someone claiming to be Petro Poroshenko, who served as president from 2014 to 2019, about the Labor Party, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In an informal video call, published by the Guido Fawkes website, Lord Cameron said he did not think Britain’s approach to the war in Ukraine would change under a Labor government.

And he added that the former US president, who could return to the White House after the November elections, would want to “support the winning side” in the conflict.

Mr Poroshenko, defeated in 2019 by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has remained a prominent figure in the country since leaving office.

The Foreign Ministry said the callers were “clearly Russian,” adding that “disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook.”

Earlier this month, the British government made the hoax public in order to prevent any attempt to manipulate video footage of the former prime minister from communications.

Asked by the impostor if he thinks anything will change after the general election, Lord Cameron responds that Labor has been “as enthusiastic” in its support for Ukraine as the Conservatives.

He said: “I don’t think you will see a change. Obviously if they win it will be a new government, some will get up to speed on certain issues, but I think fundamentally they have supported everything we have done.

“I think Labor, if they win, will continue that approach.”

Asked about his relationship with former US president and current presidential candidate Mr Trump, Lord Cameron said the Republican would like to “support the winning side” in Ukraine, but that his attitude is “difficult to predict”.

If we can get Ukraine in the front line and Putin in the back by November, then (Donald Trump) will want to support the winning side, so to speak, and that’s what we need to ensure.

Lord Cameron

He said: “I had dinner with (Trump) and my goal was to convince him not to block the money for Ukraine, because obviously the speaker, Mike Johnson, wanted two things: he wanted to vote money for Ukraine but he also wanted to keep his job, and I thought it was important to try to make sure that Trump supported him enough to make that happen, and that’s what ultimately happened .

He adds: “I think ultimately (Trump) will determine at that point what’s right for him.”

“I think the main thing is that by November we can have Ukraine at the forefront and Putin at the back by November, then he will want to support the side winner, so to speak, and that’s what we have. make sure.

“It’s difficult to predict exactly what his attitude will be but that’s the most important thing.”

Elsewhere in the video, the impostor can be heard saying that not sending Ukraine an invitation to NATO is a “bad signal.”

In response, Lord Cameron said: “There will be no invitation because America will not support it.”

“So what I said to President (Volodymyr) Zelensky is: let’s try to get the best possible language on NATO support for Ukraine. But we must not, we must not, we must not have a dispute between NATO and Ukraine before the summit.”

Later in the video, Lord Cameron reveals a conversation he had with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu during a visit to the country earlier this year.

Lord Cameron says: “Kazakhstan is convinced that Putin wants a slice of northern Kazakhstan.

“(Nurtleu) said that Ukrainians were dying for Kazakhstan, that they were risking their lives to hold back Russia and that this was benefiting us.”

At the end of the call, the imposter says, “Thank you, my friend. It was nice to see you again and I remember our first meeting with Lord Hague, Bernard and Lily Vie.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “As you know, we made public the fact that this call took place weeks ago, to do the right thing and ensure that others people are warned of the risk as soon as possible.

“The foreign minister understood that it was a private call with a Ukrainian politician.

“It’s clearly Russian and it’s standard practice for information operations.”

“Disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights violations committed there. »