2016 Rio Olympics, Opening ceremony, Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 5, 2016. Athletes of Colombia take part in the opening ceremony. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Dancers perform during the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Maracana Stadium on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

“Exactly one year before the long awaited Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin went to Sochi personally to see how the construction is going. After receiving a report saying the ski jumps that were supposed to be ready in 2011, are not completed still, while their price has sky-rocketed from 1.2 billion to 8 billion roubles, he commented, “Good for you. Good job”, and then fired the vice president of the Olympic committee. Russian artist Vasily Slonov painted his view of the upcoming games, giving a new interpretation to the adored Russian mascot Cheburashka, and combining officially endorsed stereotypes of Russia with grimmer and less accepted ones”. – Ruskie.info. (Photo by Vasily Slonov)

A simulated casualty is evacuated during an emergency services exercise at the disused Aldwych underground station on February 22, 2012 in London, England. Operation Forward Defensive aims to test the response to a terrorist incident on the London Underground network during the 2012 Olympic Games. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Artist Richard Neave admires the sculpture “Sprinting” that he created with Denise Smith on March 12, 2012 in London, England. The model shows the body of elite athlete, Richard Whitehead, and forms the centre piece at the Anatomy Of An Athlete Exhibition opening at the Hunterian Museum. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

A staff of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games holds a placard reading “Mask on” as USA's players react after their defeat in the women's gold medal match of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games ice hockey competition between Canada and USA, at the Wukesong Sports Centre in Beijing on February 17, 2022. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)

Russian Olympic Committee's goaltender Mariia Sorokina (foreground L) and teammate Veronika Korzhakova (foreground R) attempt to stop a shot by Switzerland's Phoebe Staenz (R) during the women's preliminary round group A match of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games ice hockey competition between players of Russia's Olympic Committee and Switzerland, at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 4, 2022. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Reuters)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.