There is no chance the Soviet Union will be restored. No one in Russia wants it and Putin and Co already have their hands full keeping Russia together. The market economy and multi-party institutions cannot be undone. To restore full-fledged totalitarian rule would mean the break-up of what's left of Russia. Putin's Russia in some respects has adopted some aspects of the Soviet past but this is not a sign of a Soviet restoration. Russia does not have funds or the strength to attempt it. The secret police does play a significant role in Russia and it has always done so throughout five centuries of Russian history. My guess is the KGB under Putin and his prospective heirs would like a Russia run more to the imperatives of Russian culture than of a Western outlook but all that same the Communist past will remain the past.
BTTT [article from 2004]