Police haul a youth to the paddy wagon as an undetermined number of arrest were made in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, February 25, 1971, as police moved in to disperse black youths after windows were broken and rocks and fruit thrown in what officers called “a major disturbance”. (Photo by Charles Kelly/AP Photo)

A raccoon scratches herself on the window sill of the Paige Donnelly Law Firm on the 23rd floor of the UBS Plaza building in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., June 12, 2018, in this image obtained from social media. (Photo by Evan Frost/MPR News via Reuters)

An old woman looks from inside a car with bullet holes and shattered windows as she flees fighting in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.

Eli Hanneman of Hawaii surfs in Heat 2 of the Round of 64 at the Ballito Pro on July 3, 2023 at Ballito, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. (Photo by Pierre Tostee/World Surf League via Getty Images)

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.