“Bloody jerk”: the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to Zelensky’s t-shirt with the slogan “Make Russia small again”

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “bloody jerk” in response to his T-shirt with the slogan “Make Russia small again.”

This remark was posted on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

“Small as what? The USSR? The Russian Empire? Oh, I got it! As the Kievan Rus. For that we need Kiev. You said it yourself, bloody jerk”, said the ministry’s spokesperson, Maria Zakharova.

The reaction followed Zelensky’s appearance in a T-shirt with the slogan “Make Russia small again” during one of his evening addresses.

The phrase is a play on Donald Trump’s famous campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” Unlike Trump’s red cap with the bold slogan in all caps, Zelensky’s shirt featured the words written in lowercase, including “russia.” This was seen as a deliberate twist on the original message of Trump’s 2020 U.S. presidential campaign gear.