Russia responsible for hoax calls to Ben Wallace and Priti Patel, says No 10

The Russian state was responsible for hoax calls to Ben Wallace and Priti Patel, pretending to be the Ukrainian prime minister, Downing Street has said.

In its first statement attributing blame for the video calls, No 10 said it believed Russian state actors were responsible, without giving more details on who linked to the Kremlin had been identified as being behind the attempts.

It is understood there are fears in Whitehall that Russia could release doctored quotes of their comments for propaganda purposes. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, was also unsuccessfully targeted.

Wallace has publicly acknowledged he had been targeted shortly after his call on Thursday in an attempt to get ahead of any attempt by Moscow to circulate footage from it. An investigation has been launched into how it happened and a cross-Whitehall review is looking at tightening up security procedures.

The caller who got through to Wallace was pretending to be the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.