UK media reports that erstwhile prime minister Liz Truss's personal cell phone “was hacked by agents suspected of working for the Kremlin” have provoked an uproar on Twitter, with some doubting the information and others slamming the PM for using the device to discuss state affairs.
“Security sources, exposing alleged breaches of national security, contact a Sunday newspaper…? Now let’s just think about this… do you reckon there’s an agenda here?" one user tweeted.
They referred to a British tabloid citing "unnamed security officials" as claiming that cyber-spies obtained access to Truss’ top-secret exchanges with key international partners as well as private conversations with her leading political ally and former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.
Another netizen noted, “why does it have to be the Russians that hacked Truss's phone? Surely anyone could have done it,” while one more web-surfer in an apparent sarcastic remark referred to “Tory Russian agents.”
Social media users also unanimously berated the shortest-serving British prime minister for reportedly using a personal mobile for work-related purposes.
One netizen wondered why Truss was using “her personal mobile for state business,” with another arguing that “Truss phone being hacked is not the story” and that “the story is why there was classified info on the phone.”
“Surely it doesn't matter that Liz Truss's private phone was hacked by the Russians does it? It's not as if she would discuss things of National Importance over her private phone. Only a fecking moron would do that,” one user asserted.
Several more pointed to the fact that the report about Truss’ phone being hacked by “Kremlin agents” was published following the developments on Saturday, when Russia revealed that UK Royal Navy representatives were involved in last month’s terrorist attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline network in the Baltic Sea.
The Swedish and Danish authorities suspect that the incident was the result of sabotage, with both countries barring Russia from investigating the attack. Russia insists that the probe can only be considered reliable and objective if Moscow takes part in it. The Kremlin also stated that it proceeds from the assumption that unwillingness by Sweden and Denmark along with Germany to see Russia take part in the investigation indicates that they “have something to hide", or that they “cover up perpetrators of these terrorist acts.”
In a separate move on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Moscow is suspending its participation in the implementation of an international grain deal. The ministry referred to a terrorist attack, carried out by the Kiev regime on October 29 - with the participation of British specialists - against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the grain corridor.
A user tweeted in this vein that “this Truss 'hacked' story pops up, from June, now as Russia has accused Britain blowing up NS [Nord Stream] 2 and attacking grain ship protection. Pure coincidence. And everybody takes it all in with gusto.”
The netizen apparently referred to the UK media reporting that the purported hack was discovered during the Conservative leadership campaign this past summer, when Truss served as Foreign Secretary, but that the details were suppressed by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.
Another web-surfer meanwhile noted that they were eager to know whether “the Russians got information about Nord Stream blowing up from Truss's phone.”