From GX10:

Once I moved to another country. There were several reasons, and I have not told anyone about the main one. But to you, I must admit, I did not want to write a dissertation. Emigration with the loss of citizenship seemed just enough reason to quit postgraduate studies. I was fooled by my friends. When Gorbachev began to release Jews (and under Brezhnev the border was mostly on the castle), the issue of leaving arose like a bridge in St. Petersburg, painted by a group of "War". I remember walking around Nevsky and talking about eternity. I argued that there was no need to go, because friends, and therefore life, are here. "What if they all leave?" they asked me. "Then there will be nothing else," I admitted. "Let’s get a deal and let’s go together", they said. We hit in the hands. A year later I was in America. They remained in Russia.