What did this tell us about the Soviet system and the people who ran it?

If there is one consolation for the West, it's that while the SVR's obsession with the West is a holdover from Soviet times, so, evidently, are some of its techniques.

On the picture below you may see a sales area of an ordinary Soviet "supermarket".

I found the newly secured freedoms almost unbelievable, but my colleagues not only knew it was for real, they also expected a domino effect soon would bring the crumbling of the entire Soviet bloc.

The problem is that it was almost impossible for an ordinary Soviet woman to break this vicious circle. Only celebrities were able to do this.