1972. Brodsky departure to emigration

At Pulkovo Airport on the day of emigration. Photo from the archive of M.I. Milchik

45 years ago, on June 4, 1972, the poet Joseph Brodsky, devoid of Soviet citizenship, flew from Moscow to Vienna on an Israeli visa. In a letter addressed to Leonid Brezhnev, he wrote: "I bitterly leave Russia. I believe that I will return. Poets are always returning - in the flesh or on paper."