They were not sold directly in Russia until the mid 90's due to importation red tape (the joy of a communist/capitalist cross over). I used to work for Berezovsky and he made most of his early money buying new cars, mainly Mercedes but also nearly new BMW and Audi's in Germany and exporting them to Russia, incidentally transporters went in full and then brought Avotvaz cars back to Western Europe that were then sold back to Russians, all be it with lower taxes. All hail democracy!
You must have had a very exciting job?
Did you meet these wise guys in person at the Russian dealer when they wanted to buy a w140?
Did they opt for bulletproof cars?