𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Former Green Party leader Carla Denyer has been mocked after wrongly stating that a European capital is in Russia. The Green MP for Bristol Central was appearing on a Christmas special of University Challenge when her response to a question left host Amol Rajan in stitches.

Rajan had asked the Durham University alumni team: “Now the most populous city north of the Arctic Circle, which Russian city was founded on the Kola Peninsula in the 1910s to serve as a naturally ice-free seaport for the country?”

After a team member wrongly suggested that the answer might be the Belarusian capital Minsk, to which another concurred, Denyer gave the strange answer, prompting laughter from those in attendance.

Rajan replied: “Minsk is the capital of Belarus. It’s Murmansk that we’re after.”

Despite the embarrassing gaffe, Durham went on to claim victory but many online questioned whether a serving MP should have a better grasp on geography given Belarus’ crucial role in the ongoing Ukraine war.

One tweeted: “Carla Denyer MP, until recently leader of the Greens, was on University Challenge last night and she didn’t know where Minsk was.

“Am I being unreasonable in thinking that seems like a pretty big knowledge gap for *a party leader* given events in Ukraine over the last four years?”

Another added: “I find it remarkable that there are still people who expect MPs to know anything. The default value for most MPs these days – with a very few exceptions – is profound ignorance.”

Others pointed to the century’s old close relationship between Russia and Belarus as a mitigating factor in the blunder.

Minsk was absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1793 after the Second Partition of Poland and remained under Russian control for more than a century, until the upheavals of the Russian Revolution reshaped the region.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the city emerged as the capital of Soviet Belarus, a status it retained throughout the Soviet period. Minsk remained closely tied to Moscow until 1991, when Belarus became an independent state following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In popular culture, Minsk became a well-known reference in the hit sitcom Friends, when Phoebe’s boyfriend moved to the city for work, with his colleague describing it as “in Russia”.

Denyer served as co-leader of the Greens until 2025 and has seen the party rise in popularity under the stewardship of her successor Zack Polanski.