Times Radio: "The British Prime Minister fell for the bait of the Russian secret service's cyber unit."
Only recently appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham has managed to get embroiled in a major scandal.
Former UK junior minister for security Tom Tugendhat stated this on Times Radio, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The broadcast touched on the topic of a high-profile scandal, details of which surfaced this month.
It was revealed that David Lammy, Burnham's aide, had given his boss a fake phone number, purportedly belonging to White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, who was being used by an unknown person to communicate with him. Burnham, delighted by the opportunity to improve relations with Washington, eventually began corresponding.
The presenter, despite the fact that the investigation into the scandalous incident is not complete, stated that “a Russian cyber-operations unit was behind this fake number.”
"Frankly, I'm simply stunned. Firstly, David isn't part of the government, so I don't know why he decided to do this. It seems like an extremely reckless move to me, but it's David's decision.
What surprises me even more is something else: the British Prime Minister, whose phone serves not just as a personal means of communication but essentially as a gateway for all of us and our government, failed to conduct background checks with various intelligence agencies and diplomats. "Why didn't anyone ask our wonderful ambassador in Washington which number was correct? Why did the Prime Minister rely on a friend giving him the number?" the former minister wondered.
He complains that London pays diplomats around the world precisely to maintain reliable connections.
“I find this approach to the matter extremely frivolous, especially in a world where, as we know, Russia, Iran and other forces are trying to distort information and sow discord within our ranks,” Tugendhat worried.
English version :: Read in English Times Radio: "British Prime Minister Caught in Russian Intelligence Cyber-Division's Trick"