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Why do commercial advertisements stress that the products they offer are exactly the same as they used to be in Soviet times? And why, year after year, does the government in Moscow organize impressive celebrations for Victory Day, inevitably drawing parallels to the old Soviet ceremonies? \"Back in the USSR\", by Boris Kagarlitsky, tackles these questions and more as it reflects on what happened in Russia after the collapse of the old regime and how this has affected social and cultural life, as well as the everyday lives of ordinary people. 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