Solzhenitsyn
© Sipa Press/Rex FeaturesRussian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn contrasted Vladimir Putin's reign positively against those of Yeltsin and Gorbachev, an embassy cable said.
Four months before his death Alexander Solzhenitsyn offered qualified praise for Vladimir Putin, arguing that he was doing a better job as Russia's leader than Boris Yeltsin or Mikhail Gorbachev.

The US ambassador, William Burns, visited Solzhenitsyn in April 2008 at his dacha outside Moscow. He then sent a cable to Washington giving his impressions of the Nobel-prize winning writer who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974 and returned to Russia 20 years later.

"Solzhenitsyn, who will turn 90 this December has been in declining health for some time. A stroke has left his left arm paralysed and his hand gnarled, but Solzhenitsyn's legendary energy was undiminished, and he was alert, spoke clearly, and, as the conversation showed, actively engaged with the events of the day," Burns reported in the dispatch released by WikiLeaks.

"With Solzhenitsyn was his wife, Natalya, who followed the conversation carefully, and did not hesitate to contradict her husband when she thought it necessary."

According to Burns, Solzhenitsyn took a dim view of both Yeltsin and Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader: "Solzhenitsyn positively contrasted the eight-year reign of Putin with those of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, which he said had 'added to the damage done to the Russian state by 70 years of communist rule'. Under Putin, the nation was rediscovering what it was to be Russian, Solzhenitsyn thought."

However, the writer's praise for Putin wasn't unqualified. Solzhenitsyn acknowledged that "many problems remained", including the widening gap between Russia's rich and poor. He also said Putin's decision to scrap Russia's system of elected governors - they are now all appointed - was a mistake.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's new president, was a "nice, young man", Solzhenitsyn said. The writer hadn't met him "but guessed he was up to the 'enormous challenge of repairing the damage done to Russian citizens during the Soviet period.'"

Solzhenitsyn's hostility towards the Soviet regime was evident, Burns said, reporting that he worried that "young Russians did not sufficiently appreciate the dangers of Soviet communism", a system he described as deformed.

Burns concluded: "Solzhenitsyn told the ambassador that he continues to work actively in the archives, and it was clear from the topical references sprinkled throughout his conversation that he followed current events actively."