Russia’s foreign ministry has welcomed the resignation of the British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, describing her as a ‘disgrace’ of a leader who will be remembered for her ‘catastrophic illiteracy’.

“Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a social media post.

Truss has been the target of withering comments from Moscow since she visited in February as part of a fruitless drive by western politicians to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The claim of illiteracy appears to refer to that trip, when Truss was British foreign secretary.

- Liz in Russia

In a meeting with Russia’s veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, she appeared to confuse two regions of Russia with Ukraine, triggering widespread mockery in Russian media.

Zakharova also mocked Truss’s high-profile photo shoot in Estonia last year, where she donned a flak jacket and helmet to ride in a tank during a visit to British troops stationed in the Baltic country.

Liz, in her resignation speech has referred to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine as illegal recognising it as one of the challenges UK was confronted with as she was elected the Prime Minister.

She said, "...Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent....I was elected by the Conservative Party with a mandate to change this.