The day dawned gray and ordinary. As Muscovites looked outside at streets dusted with fresh snow, they could at least take comfort from the fact that it was Friday. Many turned on their radios, expecting the usual mix of news, pop music and light entertainment. What they heard instead were the melancholy strains of Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Only 15 months before, such symphonic tributes had signaled the death of Leonid Brezhnev. Now the music was playing again. A Soviet office worker said it all: "Someone has...
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