MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the House of Russia Abroad on July 24, 2019. Solzhenitsyn’s widow, Natalia, who is President of the Solzhenitsyn Charity Foundation, will show the head of state around the Museum of Russia Abroad.

Here are some quotes of what Solzhenitsyn said about Putin:

"The president knows only too well what incredible difficulties, both domestic and external, he has inherited and which are to be avoided today. I would like to praise the prudence and soundness of his decisions and judgements. At large, he has a quick mind and agile wit and has no lust for personal power, no thrill of power. <…> He really works hard. Hard because the tasks are extremely hard to accomplish." (interview with the Russian television dated September 21, 2000).

"Reverse efforts to save the country’s lost statehood began to be taken under Putin. Some of these attempts however looked rather face-lifting but later they became more rigorous. The foreign policy, bearing in mind our situation and possibilities, is quite reasonable and more foresighted. But in terms of what has been inherited from the predecessors, much is still in shambles. The general situation people are living in is still hard and chaotic." (interview with the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper dated April 28, 2006).

"Yes, Vladimir Putin used to be a security officer but he was neither a KGB investigator, nor a GULAG camp chief. Notably, international, so to say, external services are dispraised in no country, on the contrary, they are often praised. No one ever upbraided George Bush Sr. for his being CIA director in the past." (interview with Der Spiegel of July 2007).