[1][2] In 1968 Khvostenko moved to Moscow and became an active figure in Russian underground literary circles, publishing his poetry and songs through samizdat.

[3] Khvostenko became a prominent figure in the revival of the avant-garde movement in Soviet literature and art that became possible during Nikita Khrushchev's "thaw" after the death of Joseph Stalin.

[4] Khvostenko co-wrote (with Volokhonsky) the song "The Golden City" ("Город золотой") that later achieved iconic status in Russia when it was sung by Boris Grebenshchikov in the 1987 film "Assa".

[6] Although he did not consider himself to be a political dissident, Khvostenko was regularly harassed and persecuted by the Soviet authorities, accused of social parasitism (тунея́дство), and at one point was put into a psychiatric hospital[7] (a tactic commonly employed by the Soviet authorities for punishing political dissidents).

At the time Khvostenko was good friends with a prominent Russian poet Joseph Brodsky,[8] who was also persecuted by the Soviet authorities.