"We are proud that Alexander Solzhenitsyn was our compatriot and contemporary," said Putin in a statement released by his office. "We will remember him as a strong, courageous person with a great sense of dignity. His activities as a writer and public figure, his entire long, thorny life journey will remain for us a model of true devotion, selfless service to the people, motherland and the ideals of freedom, justice and humaneness."
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