The President’s letter reads, in part:
“Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s road was that of a true fighter, who withstood all manner of trials and hardships. He was on the front line in war, and lived through Stalin’s labour camps and the suffering of exile. But through all of the tribulations of fate, he held on to his belief in people, in their moral and spiritual greatness. He never once betrayed himself, his convictions and his conscience. He always spoke the truth, no matter what the situation. His works, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The Gulag Archipelago, and The First Circle, awoke the nation’s conscience with their call for repentance.
His heart was always filled with boundless love for his homeland and his compatriots. He felt sincere concern for the fate of his motherland and made it the purpose of his life to search tirelessly for ways to build Russia and preserve its people. Many of his ideas on strengthening statehood and developing democratic freedoms are relevant and retain their enduring significance today, and his literary and philosophical works form a legacy requiring in depth and comprehensive study.”