History Main / GloriousMotherRussia

See TheGreatPoliticsMessUp, DirtyCommunists, ChummyCommies and FakeRussian. For Useful Notes about Russia and its predecessors in some depth, [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} see here]].

* Common in early 1960s MarvelComics stories, as a source of [[DirtyCommies Soviet villains.]]

Then there are tall, furry hats, ThatRussianSquatDance, borscht, vodka (''[[VodkaDrunkenski lots]]'' [[VodkaDrunkenski of vodka]]), and everyone constantly being [[CrapsackWorld miserable]] and [[DeathWorld cold]], which is why they drink the vodka. These tropes seem permanently associated with the area. In recent years, [[SensualSlavs the Russian bride]] has started to turn up a lot. Chernobyl has also become very important in the outside world's views of the country, even though it is in Ukraine. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/RedSquare_SaintBasile_%28pixinn.net%29.jpg Saint Basil's Cathedral]] will probably show up, too. No, it's [[IAmNotShazam not]] the [[SymbologyResearchFailure Kremlin]]. [[http://kremlin-architectural-ensemble.kreml.ru/si/kremlinemsemblethematicwebsitepic2.jpg This is the Kremlin.]] [[note]]Moscow Kremlin, to be precise. There are actually [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin_(fortification) many others]]. That church next door is the Cathedral of the Annunciation.[[/note]] (Image searches on "Kremlin" invariably turn up far more of the former building than the latter.)

[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GloriousMotherOfBrooms.jpg]]

Then there are tall, furry hats, the CossackDance, [[strike:borscht]] borscht, vodka (''[[VodkaDrunkenski lots]]'' [[VodkaDrunkenski of vodka]]), and everyone constantly being [[CrapsackWorld miserable]] and [[DeathWorld cold]], which is why they drink the vodka. These tropes seem permanently associated with the area. In recent years, [[SensualSlavs the Russian bride]] has started to turn up a lot. Chernobyl has also become very important in the outside world's views of the country, even though it is in Ukraine. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/RedSquare_SaintBasile_%28pixinn.net%29.jpg Saint Basil's Cathedral]] will probably show up, too. No, it's [[IAmNotShazam not]] the [[SymbologyResearchFailure Kremlin]]. [[http://kremlin-architectural-ensemble.kreml.ru/si/kremlinemsemblethematicwebsitepic2.jpg This is the Kremlin.]] [[note]]Moscow Kremlin, to be precise. There are actually [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin_(fortification) many others]]. That church next door is the Cathedral of the Annunciation.[[/note]] (Image searches on "Kremlin" invariably turn up far more of the former building than the latter.)

** Nowadays, the tables have flipped, and Russia has become increasingly religious, with the Russian Orthodox Church now an important player in state politics. However, Orthodox Christianity is seen more as a cultural identity by many Russians than an actual religion: only a half of Russians who call themselves Orthodox actually attend church services, and 80% of them do not even participate in the Eucharist.

* Comrades, how could we forget the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries''? In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert 1]]'', the Soviets are basically realistic, as part of the game's "WhatIf UsefulNotes/WorldWarII had been fought between the Allies and Stalin?" premise. In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]'', they start picking up some... oddities, like PoweredArmor with {{Lightning Gun}}s, giant squid as naval units, military structures based upon Orthodox churches, and a mind-controlling Rasputin {{Expy}}, with a [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Tsar from the Romanov family]] to rule them all. In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'', they go completely off the rails with units like [[BearsAreBadNews War Bears]], [[TankGoodness tanks equipped with tractor beams that grind up enemy vehicles]], and [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier APCs that shoot infantry out of a giant cannon]], all led by Creator/TimCurry.

* ''Videogame/MotherRussiaBleeds'', a French old-school beat-up game to the likes of ''Videogame/StreetFighter'', taking place in 1980s USSR.

* Bears. It's true that the bear is a common and well known animal in Russia, inasmuch as Russia having 60% of all Brown Bears in the world (and most of the remaining bears living in Northern Canada and Alaska). But they don't walk the streets of Russian cities[[note]] too often, at least, as there are regular occasions of a bear wandering into smaller Siberian podunk towns in search for food, while from time to time villages and smaller towns may be even besieged by a whole pack of bears or wolves (examples include Vankarem, Yaylyu and Verkhoyansk)[[/note]], and you can see a trained bear only in a circus. Bears and any big animals (including wolves) are very rarely seen in a wild by modern Russian urbanite. Using the bear as a symbol for Russia itself is mainly a foreign thing, although it is used in coats of arms for a number of cities, mostly in Siberia again, as well as the logo for UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin's ruling United Russia party. Historically, Russians have used the double-headed eagle as their national symbol.

* Russian language. In media, it is mostly portrayed with a [[FakeRussian ridiculous accent]], [[TheBackwardsR flipped Latin letters]] and a small number of commonly known words like "vodka", "da", "nyet", "pravda", "babushka", "[[ForeignCussWord suka]]", "tovarisch", "rodina", "borsch", "soyuz", "mir", "avtomat", "pulemyot", "slava", "kommunizm", "revolutsyia", "kapitalist", "mudak", "bratva", "gulag", "intelligentsiya", "kosmonaut", "balalaika", "matryoshka", "kazakh", "pogrom", "ruble", "Kopeck", "samovar", "kremlin". "partiya", "cheka", "bolshevik", "Spetsnaz", "commissar", "kapitan" "glasnost", "perestroika", "KGB", "Politburo", "tsar", "Afganistan", "Rossiya", "Chechnya", "dacha", "Amerika", "sharashka", "laika", "Kalashnikov"[[note]]водка, да, нет, правда, бабушка, сука, товарищ, родина, борщ, союз, мир, автомат, пулемёт, слава, коммунизм, револуция, капиталист, мудак, братва, гулаг, интеллигенция, космонавт, балалайка, матрёшка, казах, погром, рубль, копейка, самовар, Кремль, партия, чека, большевик, Спецназ, коммиссар, капитан, гласностъ, перестройка, КГБ, Политбюро, царь, Афганистан, Россия, Чечня, дача, Америка, шарашка, лайка, Калашников, армия. English: vodka, yes, no, truth, grandmother, bitch, comrade, motherland, borsch, union, peace, assault rifle, machine gun, glory, Communism, revolution, capitalist, bastard, brotherhood (gang), gulag, intellectuals, astronaut, balalaika, nesting doll, Kazakh, pogrom, rouble, kopeck, samovar, kremlin, party, cheka, bolshevik, Spetsnaz (SWAT), commissar, captain, glasnost, perestroika, KGB, politburo, tsar, Afghanistan, Russia, Chechnya, summer house, America, sharashka, laika (hunting dog), Kalashnikov[[/note]]. See UsefulNotes/RussianLanguage for an in-depth look at it and GratuitousRussian for more common ways to do it wrong.
* Russian names. In media, they are formed by slapping suffixes like "ov", "ski", "vich" on a bunch of common names like "Boris" or "Vladimir", not caring what those suffixes mean and in what order do various Russian names follow. The end result is something like "Boris Ivanski Vladimirvich", which doesn't sound right at all to a Russian[[note]] "-vich" means literally "son of" and it's always the suffix for middle name / patronymic of a true Russian[[/note]]. See UsefulNotes/RussianNamingConvention on how to do it right.

* The Durmstrang students and their headmaster Karkaroff in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', especially the film, blend aspects of this with German archetypes.

--> Mouse 1: Last one in is rotten borscht!

* St. Basil's Cathedral[[note]]neither a cathedral nor named after a saint Basil -- it's really the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Basil%27s_Cathedral a group of churches called Trinity Church, with one named after Bl. Vasily]], but Vasily's building is really a basilica and not a cathedral, and the complex's real modern name is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_the_Annunciation,_Moscow Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is on the Moat[[/note]], that church with those colorful onion domes, [[EiffelTowerEffect appearing whenever we see Moscow]]. Often confused with the Kremlin.

* Russia, an anthropomorphism of the country, from ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' is a PsychopathicManchild who loves vodka and often wishes to leave his cold, unforgiving homeland. He also claims that one day, [[CatchPhrase "everyone will be one with Russia."]] (No fuzzy hats or Cossack dances, though, oddly.)

* St. Basil's Cathedral[[note]]neither a cathedral nor named after a saint Basil, actually the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is on the Moat[[/note]], that church with those colorful onion domes, [[EiffelTowerEffect appearing whenever we see Moscow]]. Often confused with the Kremlin.

* With little debat the second most important team in ''Anime/BakutenShootBeyblade'' is the Russian team, Borg. The team Borg is part of the organization Borg, which is led by Vladimir Volkov. Its elite bladers are Yuriy Ivanov, Boris Kuznetsov, Sergei Rybakov, and Ivan Pahov. At the time of introduction, they're easily the team that's suffered the most and a force to be reckoned with. However, the trope is not played straight, as it's made clear that this isn't normal by Russian standards but rather the doings of Volkov specifically (and the non-Russian guy he works for). They're also introduced pretty early on so more teams followed with their own backstory of woe. In the continuation of the manga, ''Rising'', Russia is even presented positively with the introduction of Irina Golubeva and her love for her country and the orphans she's taking care of, which includes Borg. Additionally, Yuriy's backstory is that his father was a soldier of the USSR, but lost his job when it fell and became a miserable drunk that chased off both his wife and his son before drinking himself to death. This is how Yuriy ended up under Volkov's control. Yuriy's elemental affiliation is the the cold, btw.

* St. Basil's Cathedral[[note:neither a cathedral nor named after a saint Basil, actually the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is on the Moat]], that church with those colorful onion domes, [[EiffelTowerEffect appearing whenever we see Moscow]]. Often confused with the Kremlin.

* St. Basil's Cathedral, that church with those colorful onion domes, [[EiffelTowerEffect appearing whenever we see Moscow]]. Often confused with the Kremlin.

** At any rate, the dumplings are originally Chinese in origin and were brought to Eastern Europe by the Mongols in the middle ages.
** Actually, no. The Russian pelmeni is originally a Finno-Ugric (specifically, Permian) dish from the Ural mountains. The word itself ("пельнянь") is derived from the Komi or Udmurt language and means "bread ear". Pelmeni appeared in the Russian cuisine in XIV — early XV. ([[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8 Source]])

This article will list some of the more common ways for foreigners to get all things Russian wrong. In Russia proper, they are called ''razvesistaya klukva'' (blooming cranberry) and are a source of much humor.

* Russian language. In media, it is mostly portrayed with a [[FakeRussian ridiculous accent]], [[TheBackwardsR flipped Latin letters]] and a small number of commonly known words like "vodka", "da", "nyet", "pravda", "babushka", "suka", "tovarisch", "rodina", "borsch", "soyuz", "mir", "avtomat", "pulemyot", "slava", "kommunizm", "revolutsyia", "kapitalist", "mudak", "bratva", "gulag", "intelligentsiya", "kosmonaut", "balalaika", "matryoshka", "kazakh", "pogrom", "ruble", "Kopeck", "samovar", "kremlin". "partiya", "cheka", "bolshevik", "Spetsnaz", "commissar", "kapitan" "glasnost", "perestroika", "KGB", "Politburo", "tsar", "Afganistan", "Rossiya", "Chechnya", "dacha", "Amerika", "sharashka", "laika", "Kalashnikov"[[note]]водка, да, нет, правда, бабушка, сука, товарищ, родина, борщ, союз, мир, автомат, пулемёт, слава, коммунизм, револуция, капиталист, мудак, братва, гулаг, интеллигенция, космонавт, балалайка, матрёшка, казах, погром, рубль, копейка, самовар, Кремль, партия, чека, большевик, Спецназ, коммиссар, капитан, гласностъ, перестройка, КГБ, Политбюро, царь, Афганистан, Россия, Чечня, дача, Америка, шарашка, лайка, Калашников, армия. English: vodka, yes, no, truth, grandmother, bitch, comrade, motherland, borsch, union, peace, assault rifle, machine gun, glory, Communism, revolution, capitalist, bastard, brotherhood (gang), gulag, intellectuals, astronaut, balalaika, nesting doll, Kazakh, pogrom, rouble, kopeck, samovar, kremlin, party, cheka, bolshevik, Spetsnaz (SWAT), commissar, captain, glasnost, perestroika, KGB, politburo, tsar, Afghanistan, Russia, Chechnya, summer house, America, sharashka, laika (hunting dog), Kalashnikov[[/note]]. See UsefulNotes/RussianLanguage for an in-depth look at it and GratuitousRussian for more common ways to do it wrong.

* The Heavy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' started as a heavily armed, intimidating giant with a [[ICallItVera a beloved gun named Sasha]] and a Slavic accent (and slightly broken English), and the Heavy update includes a lot of Achievement names that quite blatantly parody Soviet Russia in general. Finnish translation ups the ante with ''Winter War'' references. However, in other appearances he shows HiddenDepths (his DrinkOrder isn't vodka, nor does he get why everyone thinks he likes Tetris (Is just ''stacking''!)

** Surnames that end with "-ko" also usually indicate Ukrainian origin. [[note]] It's not a Japanese suffix meaning "girl". [[/note]]

** Surnames that end with "-ko" also usually indicate Ukrainian origin.

** However, it should be kept in mind that part of Hetalia's humor is to make fun of stereotypes.

The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), America's sworn enemy during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, has gone through several periods of stereotyping. The most famous is the Communist Russia of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. Everyone's [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets red]], calls each other "comrade", and is trying to take away the freedom of the world in the name of [[DirtyCommunists Communism]]. Of course, with the [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell fall of Communism]] in the country, [[DeadHorseTrope this one is pretty dead]]. Then again, Vladimir Putin made his name in the KGB.

* ''Anime/{{Beyblade}}'' finished out its first season in Russia. Obviously, there was no vodka, just borscht, really cold weather, and some conspiracy theories.

->''"In America, you can always find a party. [[RussianReversal In Russia]], the Party can always find you!"''

* Downplayed with the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': while some SCPs were the product of the Soviet side of the arms race, the main instance of the trope is Captain Dimitri Arkadeyevich Strelnikov, via [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/reddawn his incomplete mastery of English, preference for Russian-made guns and hatred for Chechens]].

Then there are tall, furry hats, the CossackDance, [[strike:borscht]] borscht, vodka (''[[VodkaDrunkenski lots]]'' [[VodkaDrunkenski of vodka]]), and everyone constantly being [[CrapsackWorld miserable]] and [[DeathWorld cold]], which is why they drink the vodka. These tropes seem permanently associated with the area. In recent years, [[SensualSlavs the Russian bride]] has started to turn up a lot. Chernobyl has also become very important in the outside world's views of the country, even though it is in Ukraine. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/RedSquare_SaintBasile_%28pixinn.net%29.jpg Saint Basil's Cathedral]] will probably show up, too. No, it's [[IAmNotShazam not]] the [[SymbologyResearchFailure Kremlin]]. [[http://kremlin-architectural-ensemble.kreml.ru/si/kremlinemsemblethematicwebsitepic2.jpg This is the Kremlin.]] [[note]]That church next door is the Cathedral of the Annunciation.[[/note]] (Image searches on "Kremlin" invariably turn up far more of the former building than the latter.)

* [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ihw2K_FtQOQ The Soviet March]] from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3''.