Nicolai Lilin

Nikolai Yurievich Verzhbitsky, known as Nicolai Lilin, is an Italian‑Moldovan writer and tattoo artist from Transnistria. He moved to Italy in the early 2000s and published his first novel, Siberian Education, in 2009; it was later adapted into a 2013 film. The novel, which Lilin claimed was based on his own experiences as a member of a Siberian criminal gang in his native Bender, became a bestseller in Italy, though a number of journalists and historians have labelled it a fake memoir. Similar criticisms were directed at its sequel, Free Fall, which recounts the author's alleged experiences during the Second Chechen War.