Many stayed on, seduced by the romanticism of raw Siberia and drawn by the generous wages and other perks granted by Sovietlaw to those working in harsh conditions.
On 5 March, the USSR Supreme Soviet approved a draft law which would transfer control of the KGB from the USSR Cabinet of Ministers to the USSR President and Supreme Soviet as well as provide legal immunity for KGB officers from Soviet citizens.
European governments, companies and banks simply did not share the U.S. view that Moscow should be penalized for its sponsorship of repressive martial law in Poland (and near Soviet invasion) in the early 1980's, but instead should be de facto rewarded with the largest single Western taxpayer-subsidized transaction in the history of East-West trade.