 In 1988–1989 Astavyev visited France (where his "Sad Detective" was published), Bulgaria (to oversee his 1966 short novel "The Theft" being screened) and Greece and took part in the 1989 Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union.The epic novel "The Cursed and the Slain" (Proklyaty i Ubity, books 1 and 2, 1992–1993) brought Astafyev The State Prize of the Russian Federation in May 1996.The same month Russian President Boris Yeltsin visited Ovsyanka to meet Astafyev.