The situation is actually quite a bit more subtle. The most "lawful" periods in the Soviet Union were during the Khrushchev and Andropov times. Brezhnev's perio

The situation is actually quite a bit more subtle. The most "lawful" periods in the Soviet Union were during the Khrushchev and Andropov times. Brezhnev's period (esp. th last days of it) was a a complete mess, when the Soviet police acquired enormous power and felt hey can do anything the want, especially in Moscow. Yet KGB was indeed quite bit less dirty than FSB.