Incredibly shareholders have informed president Yeltsin that they demand he does not interfere in the business of MMM and, should he support the government investigation of possible fraud and theft, they intend to hold a nationwide referendum on confidence in the government. Rather than face the possibility that they they may have been duped by a thief, they prefer to believe this is a government plot to stop private commercial activity. You may call an apple a loaf of bread, but it is still an apple. Russia is very inaccurate with its definitions. Regulation is the opposite of freedom.
Freedom means no rules or regulations.
It is not surprising that in a country where words are applied to situations which are the opposite of the meaning of such words, that MMM could ask for gifts by naming them investments and sells lottery tickets, by calling them investment shares. There is of course an essential difference between a gift, a lottery and an investment. Giving reality a different name does not change reality or the result. After the winning tickets are cashed everyone throws away the worthless left over lottery tickets. People who gave MMM money now want to get the money back for their lottery tickets.