It will test my ability to describe it in words but here goes.
It is torus shaped (dough nut shaped). At first glance it looks
like a bracelet. It has one slice made the same way a bagel is
sliced. The puzzle can turn along this cut. There are eight
differently colored sections separated by fixed black sections
around the circumference of the torus. Each colored section is
subdivided into 4 sub-segments that can turn at right angles to
the main circumference. As a segment is turned, different parts
of the segment are brought to the other side of the main cut.

I came to US 4 years ago from Russia. Living in Russia I use to collect
mechanical puzzles. I remember the article in magazine and a picture of the
puzzle you described. I think it was 1987 ????. Article was saying that
there are some problems to actually make this type of puzzle and .....

I cant remember the end of the article and I never saw this toy in real.

Serge serge@nexen.com