That was the reality of daily life in the USSR in 1970s, not spy fiction. To anyone from the USSR, the first instinct is to check the date of that quote (pre- o

That was the reality of daily life in the USSR in 1970s, not spy fiction. To anyone from the USSR, the first instinct is to check the date of that quote (pre- or post-1991?) and the rest needs no comments. You made a faux pas that revealed how little you are aware of historic context. The more you deny it, the deeper hole you dig yourself into. As to the crimes themselves, they've been meticulously documented by human rights organizations like Memorial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_(society) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_(society)