"How to Persuade Ukrainians Not to Leave the USSR?" A Soviet dissident recounted how he was stunned by the 41st U.S. president

This is mentioned in Shcharansky’s interview with “Shelter.”

“I often tell this story—I even wrote about it in one of my books—about how President Bush, Bush Sr., in 1990, on the eve of his historic visit to Kyiv… I went to see him to talk about Soviet Jews, Israel, and so on—there were some issues at the time. And he immediately agreed, ready to help. But then he said, ‘Now I have a question for you. Give me some advice. I’m heading to Kyiv right now. What arguments do you think I can present to the Ukrainians to convince them not to leave the Soviet Union?” the human rights activist recounted.

According to him, Bush feared the consequences of Ukraine’s withdrawal from the USSR. Šcharansky then advised him not to dissuade the Ukrainians from taking this step.

But the U.S. president did not listen and, in 1991, delivered a speech in Kyiv in which he threatened Ukraine, stigmatized it, and urged Ukrainians to remain part of the USSR.

This speech went down in history as “Chicken Kyiv” (“Kyiv-style cutlet”): in English, the word “chicken” has the figurative meaning of “coward.”