Alexander Solzhenitsyn warned against a war between Russians and Ukrainians. He also wanted to redraw Ukraine’s borders.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn warned against a war between Russians and Ukrainians. He also wanted to redraw Ukraine’s borders.

On October 20, a monument to Alexander Solzhenitsyn was dismantled in central Vladivostok, where it had stood since 2015. It was supposed to be moved to a park commemorating victims of political repression, but the very next day it was unexpectedly put back. The official explanation was that it was too large for the new site. Vladivostok’s role in this story is no coincidence. It was there that Solzhenitsyn began his journey across Russia in 1994, after 20 years in exile. The writer traveled across the country to Moscow by train. After returning, he became active in politics, criticizing Gorbachev and Yeltsin but speaking favorably of Putin. The feeling is mutual: Putin honors Solzhenitsyn’s memory despite the writer’s views on the USSR and its suppression of dissent. At Meduza’s request, historian Alexey Uvarov explains how Solzhenitsyn’s contradictory views took shape — and how they foreshadowed the Russian-Ukrainian war.