The audience were in hysterics as Ilya accompanied Mary to Bethlehem

He had no time to change and was forced to perform in Stalin uniform

But the 12-year-old was meant to be playing Joseph of Nazareth in nativity

Russian schoolboy Ilya Gavrichenko thought he was meant to be playing Joseph Stalin - not Joseph of Nazareth - in his school's Christmas play

When Russian schoolboy Ilya Gavrichenko told his parents he was playing Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in his school production, they put together the perfect costume - moustache and all.

It was only when he arrived on the night of the performance that they realised he was meant to be playing a very different role - Joseph of Nazareth.

Ilya, who is 12, was dressed in a white shirt, jacket, military trousers and army boots when he arrived at the school in St Petersburg.

With no time to change before the start of the nativity, he was left with no choice but to accompany the Virgin Mary to Bethlehem while dressed as the murderous tyrant.

His father Fedor, who made the costume, said: 'We even got him a perfect moustache.

'We were all ready for him to be a success.'

Despite the misunderstanding over the boy's part in the play, Ilya still kept the audience entertained with his performance.

'He was supposed to accompany the Virgin Mary but there was no time to change the outfit,' his father said.

'Each time he went out on stage, the mothers were in hysterics, crying and yowling from somewhere under their chairs.

'My son was lost because of mixing up the part he was playing, and feeling guilty for having done so.'

Stalin ruled the USSR with an iron fist from 1922 to 1952 and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people.

After the end of the Soviet Union, previously unseen official records revealed almost 800,000 people were executed under Stalin. A further 1.7 million people were killed in Gulag labour camps.