Those were probably soft-drink dispensers. They were pretty common, complete with the infamous cup-on-a-chain.
None of the Soviet or post-Soviet anti-booze campaigns worked. I vividly remember taking a morning walk on my first day in St Petersburg and seeing a whole bunch of middle-aged gentlemen three sheets to the wind after getting an early start to their day. I’ve visited lots of places and seen my share of public drunkenness but nothing like what I saw in Russia.
