What do you even mean. There were literal soviet troops stationed. Czech Republic and Hungary had tanks rolling in during dissent attempts.

Being caught planning against the puppet regimes meant death early on, gulags bit later on. So some people did conform, can't be expecting everyone to want to sacrifice their lives instead of trying to survive.

As soon as USSR collapsed Eastern Europe started moving away from the Russian system. Not in a spotless manner but what else do you really need to see that the system was imposed from outside?