The Russians and the Russians in the Cold War

I had been there in december, only three months earlier. And in december it was a completely normal city. I remember there was an ice skating rink set up outside the presidential administration. There were soldiers manning road blocks. A there were these metal contraptions the russians call hedgehogs that were around many of the bridges and blocking some of the roads. You get into the presidential compound and it's all blacked out. We could hear him coming in with his chief of staff and one or two other people,. He walks in, he looks at us, and he iks a, raises his hand shyly, like to wave, and says, hi in english