What Russia was like in 1995 (PHOTOS)

The Soviet Union had already been gone for several years and, in the new capitalist world, revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin look-alikes began to make money from posing for photos.

Everything was new, for example, people voting in the democratic election for the State Duma.

But, the Communists would not give up and arranged a rally in honor of the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in front of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

More and more documents about the excesses of the Soviet regime and especially about the Gulag and the Great Terror were declassified, but Joseph Stalin still had many admirers. In addition, 1995 marked the 50th anniversary of the Victory in World War II.

Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first president, visited the United States in 1995, where he met with U.S. President Bill Clinton. And then, the latter reciprocated with a visit to Russia and was honored in the Moscow Kremlin as “a great friend”. It seemed there was no trace of the Cold War left. 

While some people rejoiced at the Western goods (everything from gum and blue jeans to drinks, gadgets, etc.), there were also dissatisfied people. The action of burning a ‘Snickers’ advertisement board was aimed against the glut of imported goods that had flooded the shelves of Russian stores. 

Meanwhile, Elena Bazina became the winner of the first national ‘Beauty of Russia’ contest.

Future tennis star and number 1 ranked doubles player Anna Kurnikova debuts in the WTA.

And this is how main pop star Alla Pugacheva looked like.

A patrolman and his canine at the border with Estonia.

Moscow streets. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, one of the seven Stalinist high-rise buildings.

Newlyweds posing on the streets of St. Petersburg.

The city of Vladimir celebrated its 1,000th anniversary. The photo shows scenes from the costumed historical reconstruction.

A rally in Kazan. A crowd with flags of the Republic of Tatarstan gathering near the walls of the Kazan Kremlin.

The state began to rehabilitate the Russian Orthodox Church as early as the late 1980s, but, in the 1990s, this process reached a grand scale. Churches that had been used for warehouses and other needs in the USSR were returned to the Church. Active restoration began. Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia and President Boris Yeltsin are captured in the photo below during the Easter celebration. 

The restoration of the Iverskaya (Iviron) Chapel at the entrance to the Red Square was also a significant event. 

This chapel was demolished in Soviet times and, in 1995, it was solemnly opened, for which a list of the historical Iviron Theotokos icon copy was made on Mount Athos. 

Miraculously preserved high reliefs from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior were presented to the public. They were mounted in the wall of Moscow's Donskoy Monastery. In Soviet times, the Cathedral was blown up and an outdoor swimming pool was built in its place. In the 1990s, however, thanks to the revival of the Orthodox Church, the Cathedral was rebuilt according to its original blueprint.

The church became popular again and many adults went to be baptized into Orthodoxy. 

Along with the rehabilitation of the Church, the rehabilitation of the royal family also began. The photo below shows participants of the procession commemorating Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family, who were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

The reburial of the remains of the royal family itself would happen three years later, in 1998. In the meantime, the remains of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Nicholas II's uncle, were solemnly reburied. He was Governor-General of Moscow and he was also killed by revolutionary terrorists. 

The Moscow Kremlin museum's staff restoring the tsars’ carriages.

Spontaneous illegal street vending was a hallmark of the 1990s. 

Another telling sign of the 1990s was casinos, which could be seen everywhere. Now, they have been restricted to four specially restricted gambling zones across Russia. 

A traffic police officer regulating the traffic flow.

Street portraitists on Moscow's famous Arbat Street. 

Youths gathering at an outside summer cafe.

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of actor, singer and songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky’s death, a monument in his honor was erected in Moscow. 

Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, meanwhile, celebrated her 70th birthday on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, performing her iconic solo part, ‘The Dying Swan’.

And below, the new star of the Bolshoi Ballet, dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze, performing as ‘Mercutio’ in the ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (pictured in black).

Haute Couture Week in Moscow.

A reconstruction of the 1812 Battle of Borodino being held near Moscow.

Fans of the Spartak Moscow soccer club on their way to a match on the Moscow Metro subway.

Children playing next to the eternal flame in Kemerovo, Siberia.

Today, Muscovites complain about expensive paid parking in the city center. In the 1990s, parking was spontaneous, all over the place and mostly free. But, the first pay meters did already appear on Tverskaya Street.

And below is late night on Tverskaya Street. There was a lot of advertising of Western brands back then.