The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has granted citizenship of this country to the great-great-grandson of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy. The relevant information appeared this Friday on the official portal of legal information of Russia. Daniel Tolstoy is a direct descendant of the author of War and Peace. According to his own testimony, Daniel was born in 1972 in Sweden, where his family had lived since 1917. The life and work of Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was one of the great pillars of world literature and a central figure of Russian realism. Coming from an aristocratic family, he developed a work that combined deep psychological observation with a detailed social portrait of his time. From then on, he adopted an austere life, based on non-violence, manual labor, and the rejection of privileges. His ideas caused conflicts with the Orthodox Church — which excommunicated him in 1901 — and also family tensions, especially with his wife, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya, over financial issues and copyright. In 1910, he left his home in search of a life more consistent with his principles, but he fell ill with pneumonia during the journey and died at a train station. Among his most influential novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina stand out, considered pinnacles of 19th-century narrative. In addition to his work as a novelist, Tolstoy was a moral and social thinker who, in the last stage of his life, adopted critical stances towards the State, the Church, and power structures. In his final years, Leo Tolstoy experienced a deep spiritual crisis that led him to question religion, inequality, and the meaning of life, a process he portrayed in his book, A Confession. He was buried at his estate in Yasnaya Polyana, in a simple tomb without monuments. What is known about Daniel Tolstoy, the writer's great-great-grandson who obtained Russian citizenship? As for his descendant, Daniel Tolstoy, it is known that he is part of the writer's extensive family that went into exile outside Russia after the 1917 Revolution. According to Russian media, the writer's great-great-grandson visited Russia for the first time in 1989 and more recently has participated in eco-agricultural projects in the Tula region (Russia), with Swedish investment. He trained in economics at the London School of Economics and has sought to develop organic farming in Russia. Although his public profile is discreet and he is not known for a distinguished literary or political career, Daniel has been identified as one of the descendants who have preserved the historical memory of the Tolstoy family. He was 82 years old.
