Solzhenitsyn is expelled from Russia and stripped of Soviet citizenship Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet dissident author who arrived in West Germany yes- terday after being expelled from the Soviet Union, has been de- prived of his citizenship. The Soviet news, agency Tass accused the Nobel prizewinner of systematic activities incom- patible with the holding of Soviet citizenship. It said his family could leave and Mrs stand and forgive mee", she said. She added that the deporta- tion was a great misfortune, a terrible act of coercion against an innocent man. She added: " I will not really believe it until. I hear his voice by radio or on the telephone saying it is true. I know he will call me if he can." It was pointless, she added, for her to give any more inter- views. Now her husband was in a frep country he would be in a position to tell everything himself. Developments have confirmed conjecture that the Soviet authorities would end by choosing Mr Solzhenitsyn's expulsion from the Soviet Union as the easiest way out of their dilemma. Alternative measures, such as sentencing him to a term in a prison camp, might have seriously damaged detente with the West. Moreover, the Russians know from past experi- ence with other dissident writers that once out of the country in an alien environ- ment, they tend to wither on the vine for lack of initellectual sustenance and are soon for- gotten and ignored. Moscow, Feb 13.-Mrs Sol- zhenitsyn told Western repor- ters her husband telephoned her from West Germany tonight. " He said he was in good health but tired. He told me he had only learnt this morning that he was being exiled. '"We intend to follow him, certainly, but when, where . . . we just don't know ", she said. Moscow today issued an exit visa to Vladimir Maximov, the dissident novelist, for a year- long visit to France. Only two weeks ago he had been told that he would not be allowed tr go abroad. Britain offers refuge, page 10 Solzhenitsyn said they would. Mr Solzhenitsyn was put on board a Soviet aircraft against his will yesterday after spending 24 hours in the hands of the secret police, the KGB. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, left, in the village of Langenbroich last night with his friend Herr Heinrich Boll. Dissident given shelter by W German writer Langenorolca, WeStphalia, Feb 13 Mr Alexander Solzhenitsyn arrived at the country house of the West German writer, Heinrich B611, here tonight after his expulsion from the Soviet Union. The dissident Russian novelist was put on board a Soviet airliner against his will this afternoon after spending 24 hours in the hands of the KGB (secret police) that arrested him at his wife's flat in Moscow yes- terday. Hours before he reached the Westphalian village of 80 in- habitants, about 250 journalists from the world's press had been herded into the yard of Herr B611's converted farm. As many local people from the surround- ing district waited outside the old arched gateway Dozens of police and detec- tives sought to confine the crowd with portable crush barriers. Roads leadine to the village near the Belgian border were jammed for miles with cars belonging to the press and sightseers. As the government car which had brought Mr Solzhenitsyn from Frankfurt airport halted at the gateway, loud applause and cheering broke out. " Give us a smile ", the photographers shouted in several languages. He complied, but it was a weak smile. The Russian was embraced by Herr Boll, one of his stoutest defenders in the West, and con- ducted across the farmyard to the little, stone-built farmhouse where he spent a few minutes ref reshing himself. Wearing a dark grey coat and a white shirt, but without both hat and tie, Mr Solzhenitsyn, who had no suitcase with him, came out into the floodlit yard and blinked tiredly into the tele- vision lights. He began to speak in more than passable German: " You understand, I am very tired. I am worried about my family who had to stay in Moscow. I have to call Moscow to find out about them. "Thank you for your atten- tion. I realize you have been waiting a long time. I'm sorry you had to wait so long." Switching to Russian, Mr Solzhenitsyn went on: "You can understand my situation. I can- not meet you and answer your questions. I cannot give inter- views to individual correspon- dents among you todaymnor in the next few days. I gave too many interviews in the recent past. "Now I must simply collect myself and try to understand my situation. Thank you, and I ask you now not to trouble Herr B61l or me." Mr Solzhenitsyn was asked whether exile had become the only way out for him. He refused. to comment. " It was unex- pected '", he said. " I learnt about this at one o'clock-this afternoon, Moscow time." / Rerr B1ll, who won the Nobel prize ftr literature in 1972 one year before Mr Solzhenitsyn; and is chairman of the International PEN Club, said that Mr Solzhen- itsyn would eventually be able to answer more questions, but not before his situation had been clarified. The flight from Moscow should have landed in Frankfurt at 11.45 am German time. As its arrival was delayed for longer and longer, the West German news agency DPA broke the news that Mr Solzhenitsyn was coming to West Germany. Then confusion reigned. Herr Willi Weyer, the North Rhine Westphalian Minister of. the Interior, announced at lunch- time that Mr Solzhenitsyn was already here. An hour later, a Federal Government spokesman said that he had not arrived yet. He added that the West Ger- man Government had been informed by the Soviet Union that Mr Solzhenitsyn was on his way to West Germany and that the Government had told the Soviet authorities that it was prepared to accept him. It was not- known whether he would seek to stay in West Germany for long. Edmund Stevens writes from Moscow: Mr Solzhenitsyn is a free man tonight, to all intents a man without a country. Tass carried in its English service today the following announcement. cc'By the decree of the Prae- sidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, A. I. Solzhenitsyn has been stripped of citizenship of the USSR for systematically per- forming actions that are incom- patible with being a citizen of the USSR and detrimental to the USSR, and was expelled from the Soviet Union on Feb- ruary 13, 1974. "Solzhenitsyn's family can join him when they deem necessary." His wife, Natalya, red eyed and bewildered, spoke to correspon- dents from the threshold of her ground floor flat in central Mos- cow. She apologized for not in- viting them in and said: "We are both terribly upset." The first reaction to learning that her husband had been expelled was blank incredulity, At the time of his arrest the pre- vious afternoon, one of the plain clothes security men had assured her that her husband would be retdrning to the flat before long. Not until well into the after- noon did a voice on the tele- phone, that identified itself as coming from the prosecutor's office, say that her husband had been expelled. But as it gave no details as to how or where to, it could have been a " provoca- tion ", she said. A baby boy, the smallest of three children, cried in the arms of a babushka in the background. Mrs Solzhenitsyn soothed him. " I would rather not talk too much. I trust you will under- From Dan van der Vat Solzhenitsyn is expelled from Russia and stripped of Soviet citizenship