Not too long ago, a guest at any Soviet embassy reception was greeted by a phalanx of unsmiling men in gray, square suits looking for all the world like spies, which they were. A couple of years ago, the image changed. There still were some of the gray bricks lurking in the drapes, but there were also a growing number of well-tailored young men wearing granny glasses and smiles. Indeed, Vladimir Mikoyan, second secretary in the press office and grandson of the old Bolshevik Anastas Mikoyan, could pass for a Duke University graduate student.
This sudden concern for appearance was...
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