Vladimir Putin reveals himself to be a sensitive artist

Following in the footsteps of Sir Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Putin, Russia's testosterone-charged Prime Minister, has revealed himself to be an amateur painter. His debut work, which will be auctioned for charity at the weekend, pays tribute to Ukrainian folklore and is surprisingly sensitive for a man who usually likes to portray himself as the embodiment of unreconstructed Russian manhood, posing shirtless while hunting, or telling tales of felling a rogue tiger with a tranquilizer gun.

Painted with pastels, it depicts a wintery night sky seen through a peasant's window, and is part of a collection of 26 paintings, one for each letter of the alphabet. Under the rules of the exhibition, Putin (pictured with his artwork) was required to paint an image related to the Night Before Christmas, a story by the Ukrainian born author Nikolai Gogol.

Set in Dikanka, a village in central Ukraine, the story tells of events on a blizzard-swept Christmas Eve thrown into chaos because the Devil has stolen the moon. Given that Russia is locked in a bitter gas dispute with Ukraine, the theme seems apt enough.

Richard Dorment, the Daily Telegraph's art critic, is impressed. "Putin gives us all the information we need but nothing more," he writes. "This is an artist who has been struck by something most of us wouldn't look at twice. With remarkable economy he contrasts the warmth, light, and gaiety of the interior with the cold and darkness beyond." ·