How many Soviet republics were there?

You keep talking about a "transitional period," a "transitional period." But try to think about it. It didn't just start out of nowhere. The system has outlived its usefulness. You'll start praising Stalin next. And Hitler was defeated primarily by the people, not the state. And was socialist realism, which dominated all areas of literature and art in the USSR for a long time, really something good? But the comedies were genuinely great – that's a fact. Loving Russia can't be forced. Ugh. If moral standards didn't hold me back, I would... :)