Yes I heard that Sasha liked Vlad a lot, when he got really old. He considered Putin as real patriot and saviour to Russia. Not sure about Putin's believes on Solzenicyn though. prolly it was some Public Relations bullshit.
Remember about few things though:
a) he witnessed only his first years of reign, and after he saw how Russia looked in 90s, maybe he really considered Putin gang as saviours
b) history will tell - next 100 years ? - how Putin will be judged by next generations. IMO such reigns are necessary sometimes to pave the road for the next changes (maybe not necessarily worse, hahah
. Same with Trump...I may understand all attacks on him etc. but he is still- an American president. So people should remember about that.
btw the guy looks like a orthodox pop, lol