andrei belousovjoseph stalinRussiaTobias Ellwood

As a former soldier, one might think that Tobias Ellwood’s military knowledge is pretty reliable. Yet the Tory MP today deleted a tweet which suggested he struggles to tell the difference between the Kremlin and its Hollywood iteration. Ellwood posted an image of Andrei Belousov, Russia’s new Defence Minister, photoshopped onto the body of Second World War general Georgy Zhukov, as depicted in the 2017 satire The Death of Stalin. “He’s either borrowed the uniform or had a very good first day at the office,” Ellwood said of Belousov, whose background is as an economist.

After much mockery online — and a dreaded “community note” — the MP claimed his post was “tongue-in-cheek”. Whoever edited this image could use some tips from Stalin’s advisers…