Russia

Russia is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia, with an area of 17,075,400 square kilometres. The largest country in the world by land mass, it covers almost twice the territory of the next-largest country, Canada. It is also close to the United States and Japan across relatively small stretches of water. The capital city is Moscow.

Formerly the dominant Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and under Communist rule, Russia is now an independent country and an influential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, since the Union's dissolution in December 1991. During the Soviet era, Russia was officially called the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Russia is considered the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic matters. The country is known for its frozen regions, for bringing about Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat when he attempted to conquer it, for such dietary staples as borsch and vodka, and for its contributions to literature. P.G. Wodehouse once described certain works produced in the latter category as "grey studies of hopeless misery, where nothing happened till page three hundred and eighty, when the moujik decided to commit suicide."

Russia has also made significant contributions to the development of ballet, which in particular have influenced the New York school of ballet in the United States. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker is one of the more enduring ballets, and Rudolf Nureyev is considered the most influential Russian dancer of the mid-20th century.

Despite its current independence, Russia is also closely associated with the Communist ideology, to a greater extent even than China, and for the long-standing Cold War which erupted between the USSR and the United States. The earliest known reference to Russia in Muppet productions is indicative of this perception; in a Wilkins' Coffe spot, Wilkins and Wontkins appear in a Communist Russian store, where Wontkins sells "Party Line Coffee" but sneaks capitalist coffee like Wilkins to certain customers. A less politicized view of Russia occurred in the Sesame Street 1978 Calendar, which featured a global travel theme, with Russia as the image for March.

The Muppets have occasionally made personal visits to the country as well. In 1984, Kermit the Frog claimed top-billing over John Denver at a children's concert in Moscow. In February 1988, while the country was still under Soviet rule, Jim Henson attended the American Film Celebration in Moscow, the second American film festival held in the Soviet Union, and conducted a puppetry workshop. Later that year, Kermit and Miss Piggy posed in front of Red Square, an image reproduced in several magazine publications, while filming the Marlo Thomas special ``Free to Be... A Family, announced as the first Soviet-American co-production of an entertainment show. Also in 1988, Jim Henson and Anthony Minghella began mining Russian folklore extensively for use in The StoryTeller. This is perhaps most evident in "The Soldier and Death," involving a returning military man in Tsarist Russia. At one point, the soldier uses his gifts to save the Tsar of Russia himself.

In 1996, in the wake of a changing post-Soviet Russia, Ulitsa Sezam debuted, as a Russian co-production of Sesame Street. In keeping with Russian culture, the key Russian Muppet, Zeliboba, originally designed with an earthy brown coat of fur and leaves, became blue, a color traditionally associated with spirits. Grover has occasionally incorporated elements of Russian culture on the US series as well, with Russian cossack dancing and in a Waiter Grover sketch involving Charlie's Russian reastaurant.