Writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn has vowed to remain independent of rival political groups but said he could not keep silent about the suffering of post-Soviet Russia.


In his first television interview since returning to Moscow on Thursday after a two-month train journey across Russia, Solzhenitsyn said Sunday he expected to meet President Boris Yeltsin.


"There will undoubtedly be a meeting," the Nobel prize winner, 75, told Independent Television's Itogi program.


He said he had returned to Russia "as a writer" after 20 years in exile. "It is necessary to differentiate between social and political activity," he said.


"I will not occupy any posts."


"The misfortune of Russia is so great that no citizen can be indifferent to what is happening," Solzhenitsyn added. "I will say what I think is right and useful for Russia."


The remarks indicate that Solzhenitsyn would continue to assume the role of writer and moral arbiter familiar to Russian literature since the days of 19th-century novelist Leo Tolstoy.


Since his return Solzhenitsyn has sharply criticized market reforms that have filled shops with goods but impoverished many and increased crime.