“The Russians are coming!” Throughout the Cold War, that phrase expressed the anxiety felt by Western democracies about the possibility of a surprise nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Half jest, the tongue-in-cheek quip evoked Russian chief Nikita Khrushchev’s notorious braggadocio in 1956 addressed to Western powers: “We will bury you!”
Later in an address at the United Nations, the Communist leader hinted that the promised burial could come by the year 2000.
By 1992, however, another phrase was making the rounds in Western capitals: “The Russians are going!”
