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Exiled Maestro to Stay

WASHINGTON -- Famed maestro Mstislav Rostropovich has wished writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn well on his return to Russia after 20 years of exile, but said he will not follow his old friend to live there. In an interview, Rostropovich, who is leaving the National Symphony Orchestra after a 17-year tenure, said Solzhenitsyn can do Russia more good by being there and he can help Russia by staying in the West. "For Solzhenitsyn, it is more important for him to be there, but I feel it is more important for me to be in the West," Rostropovich said. Both men were sent into exile in 1974 by the Soviet authorities.

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