(FORTUNE Magazine) – Lenin would be appalled. But PepsiCo announced in early November that it is on the verge of a deal to put Pizza Huts across the Soviet Union, and McDonald's looks close to planting golden arches there. Marching behind these well- publicized pioneers, a slew of U.S. companies are negotiating to launch operations in the U.S.S.R., and their chances look better than ever. Reason for the sudden flurry of dealmaking: new Soviet rules on joint ventures, part of Moscow's plan to boost the economy. Beginning January 1, a lot of bureaucratic hurdles will disappear and more than 20 ministries and 70 major enterprises will be allowed to deal directly with foreign partners. (All negotiations must now funnel through one agency.) James H. Giffen, a New York banker and president of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council, a trade promotion group, says about 30 U.S. companies in such industries as food, energy, and chemicals are looking to do business in the Soviet Union. Most will not identify themselves until the deals are done, but Giffen expects about 15 companies to reach agreements in the next year. ''By Soviet standards,'' he says, ''the negotiations are moving like lightning.'' Signs of the Kremlin's new openness toward foreign marketers are popping up all over. Last summer the Soviets began to use buses as advertising vehicles -- for Pepsi-Cola, which in 1974 became the first foreign consumer product widely produced and sold in the U.S.S.R. This fall a popular evening news- magazine program on Soviet TV featured a flattering segment about McDonald's. The reporter hailed the food and service -- Russian eateries are not known for either -- and admitted, ''Maybe there is something we can learn from this.''