Statement Ministry for Foreign Affairs 04 August 2008
Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs

Carl Bildt on the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"Alexander Solzhenitsyn was undoubtedly one of the great authors of our time and a central figure in the story of Russia's tragic 20th century. Like no one else, he could capture in his books the reality of the Stalinist hell that was the Soviet Union.

In the books One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The First Circle and The Gulag Archipelago he created some of the truly great works of contemporary history and literature.

On a day like this we have reason to remember him and the great work he did for his Russia."