He had a permit issued by the security services of the Supreme Soviet. After the scandal, Yeltsin canceled the permit. There is a clear division between classes. Less than four percent of the Russian population can make ends meet. Pensions are a joke.
Old people live on bread and potatoes.
They cannot afford to buy milk and butter, much less vegetables and fruit. In Tambov, a small city in Russia, old people are buying coffins because they are afraid that by the time they die, there will be no money left to pay for funerals. In Amursk, a large Siberian city, there is one doctor left, a pensioner, who works only three hours a day. Perhaps people have stopped being sick in Amursk. Buying a car is only a dream, even for people who a year ago were rich by Soviet standards.