[morzh]

Well, not to dispute the fact that US semiconductor industry was alway way ahead of the Soviet one, and I would take an American transistor over a Soviert one any time of the day, but the Soviet transistors (and what I am sure of is there are no counterfeits there) as I remember them, at least the small signal ones, were reliable and fully compliant with their respective datasheets.

To answer Brenda's question, Brenda, in Ukrain and im most of Russia the standard of living is still quite a bit lower (forget Moscow, Moscow is no longer Russia really) than it is here, hence the prices.