In 1994, Alexander Solzhenitsyn staged a theatrical return to Russia, flying from America to Magadan, then returning by train from Vladivostok to Moscow. The journey and the salvific importance Solzhenitsyn attached to it soon became the target of much derision, as well as some praise.

The Oscar-nominated animated short film “Gagarin,” directed by Alexei Kharitidi for Pilot, a Moscow-based animation studio.