I was in Moscow in the last year or two on a foreign Staff College visit. We were met with hostility by a 4* General of the Interior Ministry at the (former) Soviet Institute of Peace and Reconcilliation. I spent a Sunday morning in the Kremlin with my artists's sketch pad and was constantly questioned by all manner of police, officials and general busy-bodies. Colleagues were similarly hassled, hussled and generally pleased to see the last of Moscow. On my evening off I met with several expats for a drink in the old Arbat - we were followed and made to feel uncomfortable. My friends were full of some pretty lurid stories of life in err, free market Moscow. All reported on my return, of course.
Plus I couldn't read the menus...