War criminal Wagner chief has written children's book

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has written a children’s book that features a king who grows too big for the land he rules.

The leader of the mercenary group that has carried out war crimes in Ukraine wrote the illustrated book more than twenty years ago, the Moscow Times revealed.

In recent months Prigozhin, who spent nine years in prison for theft, has criticised the war effort led by Vladimir Putin, prompting speculation that he may have his own political ambitions.

The stars of the 90-page book are a brother and sister called Indraguzik and Indraguza, tiny people who live in a theatre’s chandelier. Indraguzik travels down into the world of ordinary-sized people below and goes on a series of adventures as he tries to find his way home.

At one point, the Moscow Times reports, the children discover that the chandelier they live in is actually magic - and can make people grow in size. Indraguzik offers to help the king of their native land by putting him in the chandelier - but they accidentally make him too big and he turns into a giant who is unable to rule effectively.

“How can I rule my people if they are so small? I could destroy them by mistake. Please make me the same king I was,” the Moscow Times quoted the king in Mr Prigozhin’s book as saying. “Only a small king can rule the Izdraguziks.”

Prigozhin has been a vocal critic of the Russian ministry of defence during the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accusing the country’s top generals of depriving his mercenary fighters of ammunition. The former chef to Putin has ballooned in prominence over the course of the war, becoming the most vocal critic of the Kremlin’s strategy.

Prigozhin was forced to deny he was referring to Putin when he asked if ‘grandpa’ - a nickname sometimes used for the Russian leader - was ‘really an a******’.

In recent weeks he has been travelling Russia talking to ordinary citizens in an effort to keep up his public profile after his fighters withdraw from the ruined city of Bakhmut. He said the tour was not the start of a political career but an effort to educate young people.

Also included in the exotic cast of characters in the children’s book is an older man called Gagarik who keeps a bird, wears a trench coat “made from rough cloth” and cooks soup, perhaps a nod to Mr Prigozhin’s earlier career.

The character called Gagarik could also be a reference to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space in 1961 who is held up by the Kremlin as one of the Soviet Union’s superstars.

Illustrators have praised the 90-page book’s colourful drawings, which have been attributed to Mr Prigozhin.

The Moscow Times said that Mr Prigozhin’s children’s book ends with a poem that described the story as “funny and strange”.

According to the Moscow Times, the book’s official authors are Mr Prigozhin’s two children, Polina and Pavel, although the book’s preface said that he was a collaborator. Around 2,000 copies were printed and given away to friends, the Moscow Times said.

Inside the book’s cover, a youthful Mr Prigozhin poses for a photo with his children and his wife. It’s the picture of a smiling, happy-go-lucky family, enjoying each other’s company.

On Wednesday, Mr Prigozhin was also involved in a dispute with Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov , whom he has accused of not pulling his weight in the fighting in Ukraine. A deputy of Mr Kadyrov offered to fight a deputy of Mr Prigozhin in a video response.