Moscow Times
August 5, 2008
Flowers And a Hint Of Dissent
By Alexandra Odynova
Neighbors and friends stopped by Alexander Solzhenitsyn's home in an elite gated community in western Moscow on Monday to pay their respects to the author, who died of heart failure late Sunday.
"I hope Medvedev and Putin won't be upset with me, but I think Solzhenitsyn didn't believe in their regime," Vladimir Kuznetsov, a former deputy of the Supreme Soviet, said with tears in his eyes. "He believed in democracy, but not the Yeltsin democracy. He used to say that this regime is worse than communism."
Kuznetsov, who now works as a school principal, expressed worries that he would lose his job for his comments. But then, as if realizing that the outspoken Solzhenitsyn had risked much more, Kuznetsov fondly recalled meeting the writer several years ago.
"Solzhenitsyn was a true democrat and a great philosophic thinker," he said.
Kuznetsov was among several dozen people who stopped by the gates of the house specially built for Solzhenitsyn in Troitse-Lykovo, where he spent his last years writing. Children from neighboring houses brought flowers. Other visitors included people like Kuznetsov who had met the author and admirers of his books.
Late in the afternoon, a mail carrier delivered telegrams with condolences from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
"I remember him as a very kind man," said Yelena Sherwood, whose father, Dmitry Ganeshin, met Solzhenitsyn in a labor camp. She said her family often gathered together with his family after the men were freed.
"A lot of people came to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's place to ask for his financial support," neighbor Yelena Korzyukhova said. "When Solzhenitsyn's family arrived from abroad, people thought they had got a lot of money, but I doubt it was true."
Korzyukhova said she met Solzhenitsyn in his home during the 2002 census. She said she had been surprised by the number of bookcases in the house. As she was leaving, Solzhenitsyn gave her a book of his stories.