It's none of that. In USSR the government controlled EVERYTHING. Remember those lines of people waiting for food? Store shelves empty like in Venezuela? That was late Soviet Russia. If you worked for the government and or lived in Moscow, things were not that bad. But if you were just the average worker living off your rations it was horrible. Already before the collapse there was a black market but it was kind of low key and you could get in trouble. When the USSR finally fell apart it fucked everyone over. No more government rations, farmers couldn't get fuel, trains couldn't transport and the government stores were fucked. The black market started surging with people making money off of anything they could sell and it didn't take farmers long to realize that all they had to do was take their products to the local town and they'd get something. Just as a matter of survival of course the cities and towns had market spaces and got a cut from renting the spaces. When I was there in 2005 I could see this works really well and is very popular. Yes, I paid cash for everything and so did everyone else. All these sellers are not exactly black market since there's no real law against selling what you produce. What would be considered black market, like selling stuff you bought from elsewhere out of your basement no one really cares about. If a cop walked in and saw this going on most likely he would make a purchase of what ever he wanted and just leave. From what I've seen in places like Moscow and Saint Petersburg today, it seems the old style Soviet people are going out of style with their abusive attitude and elitism while people cleaving to the new Russian Federation ideology are the young and civil minded people who want freedom and equality for all, rather than just a few in government. To me it looks like people hate the idea of a two tiered system of justice. Old Soviet Union: If you are a party member, have status and know people you do what the fuck you like and the laws are just for the little people. New Russian Federation: One law for all. Putin has come out and literally spoken on this new ideology. He's old KGB but I think he's also for stopping the tyranny and elitism. I've seen him in open meetings brow beating scum bags who ignore what the people need. He's an authoritarian for sure but at this point, I think that's what Russia needs. Take some time to watch all the videos put out by SADB from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Well worth it to see how the culture is changing and pick up a few phrases. https://youtu.be/YzzT6RCRuaE Here's one of my favorites. It's actually hysterically comical: https://youtu.be/lrY1d0cxECQ