In the image, Andrei Belousov's face was photoshopped onto the body of Jason Isaacs in the costume of Georgy Zhukov in the film “The Death of Stalin
Tobias Ellwood shared a photo of the new head of the Russian Defense Ministry in a military uniform covered with medals – but in fact it was a photoshopped image of a character from the comedy film “The Death of Stalin.”
The former defense minister posted a photo of “Andrei Belousov”, an economist who was announced on Sunday the new Minister of Defense of Russia.
But the image was not what it seemed – Belousov's face was photoshopped onto the body of Jason Isaacs in the costume of Georgy Zhukov in The Death of Stalin.
Mr Ellwood, who is also a former chairman of the House of Commons defense committee, insisted the now-deleted social media post was deliberately “ironic” to highlight that “a non-military loyalist with an economic background is now in charge of the Russian army.”
He shared a mock-up of the image on X (previously on Twitter), writing: “This is 'General' Andrei Belousov – he is an economist by profession – and now the new Russian Minister of Defense.”
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“He either borrowed a uniform or had a very good first day at the office…”
Tobias Ellwood shared now deleted image layout on X (formerly Twitter)
The picture allegedly showed Mr Belousov standing in front of a door wearing a uniform with more than 25 medals.
But the former defense minister was then the subject of a “community note” on the platform that explained it was an edited image
The image itself showed signs of being photoshopped, with Isaacs' left ear still visible underneath Mr Belousov's own ear.
In the hit comedy film The Death of Stalin, released in 2017, Isaacs played the Soviet defense minister and Steve Buscemi played Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev.
Mr Ellwood is one of many MPs from all parties who received community notes on X allowing users to add context under posts with misleading information since the feature was introduced last January.
In the film The Death of Stalin, Jason Isaacs played Soviet Defense Minister Georgy Zhukov. Photo: NICOLA DOVE/Film Stills
The former defense minister told The Telegraph: “It was ironic – obviously from that wonderful film. But by emphasizing that a non-military loyalist with an economic background is now in charge of Russia's military, it reflects how the country is shifting to a military posture, with defense procurement becoming the country's top priority.”
Mr. Belousov is Sergei's replacement Shoigu, who has been Vladimir Putin's defense minister since 2012, including throughout Russia's war against Ukraine.
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