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- WORLD, Page 35World NotesRUSSIACommunist Garage Sale
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- Can capitalism take root in Russia? Well, it depends on what
- you've got for sale. There are few consumer goods available, but
- selling symbols of the discredited past seems to be a booming
- business. The West African People's Republic of Benin, bucking
- the worldwide trend, is said to have paid $75,000 for a statue
- of founding father Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The ZIL limousines of
- the former leadership are on the block at as much as $10,000.
- Old government telephones made of semiprecious metals can
- reportedly be had for $400 each, complete with anti-bugging
- devices.
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- Everything from technology to tours has a price tag. A
- visit to KGB headquarters that would once have chilled the blood
- now costs $30 a head. An interview with the former head of
- Soviet intelligence is offered for $600, and the space program's
- director of mission control is available for $200; $1,000 will
- buy time with a prisoner on death row. The Defense Ministry
- charges $1,500 for pictures of nuclear sites. And low-grade
- classified information can be purchased from a Yekaterinburg
- firm that specializes in defense enterprises; both ex-Soviet and
- foreign clients may buy.
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