My guess is that they had to stick close to the party line just a few years earlier but in the latter years of the Soviet Union, all sorts of people were going "off reservation" so to speak. I'm sure the KGB guy with the group was there primarily to pick up Western goodies for resale in Russia than to actually make sure the group stuck to the tenents of Marxism-Communism.
Further, unlike the Americans, Europeans and Russians know how to appreciate satire without the laugh tracks. The proof is that even the stupid peasant and prole leaders of the Party feared magazines like Krokodil and understood if not its humor then certainly its role. Contrast that with the responses here to your or Christopher Buckley's satirical posts.
True. Whenever I post something about worshipping that great satirical genius, Jack Chick, I have people replying in outrage. (Tossing out a bit of clueless bait here.)
Haw Haw!