Russia

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Russia one of the main characters in Hetalia: Axis Powers: Paint it, White and Hetalia: Axis Powers (anime) as an important member of the Allied Forces along with America, England, France and China.

During the years 2007 and 2008, Himaruya game human names to some characters, and Russia received the name Ivan Braginsky  (commonly mistaken for Braginski, although the "-ski" ending would imply Polish descent), or  Иван Брагинский .

Appearance
Full Article: Uniform Guide: Russia 

Russia, overall is rather pale, with very fair skin and hair and violet eyes. His height has been stated by Himaruya as 5'11.6 inches or about 182 centimetres, causing him to be the tallest main character, and also the same height as Sweden. His build implies that he is rather strong, as constantly demonstrated. He is normally seen wearing a white (sometimes appears beige or pink) scarf given to him by Ukraine as a child, a long beige winter jacket, and winter boots. He also usually carries a water pipe he tore out of the ground at Germany's, in which he can store things like food or threaten people with ,subliminally or otherwise

His heart sometimes falls out, and it's seemingly a normal occurrence for him. It's unknown what effect this has on the appearance of his chest.

Character Summary
As a first impression, Russia appears rather passive and innocent due to the way he initially acts and speaks. His ignorance can also enforce this appearance, such as when he jumped from a plane without a parachute claiming the snow would break his fall (which it didn't). However, deep down he's known to be twisted and childishly cruel, and apparently unaware of the consequences of his tendencies. He can react very differently to certain situation, too, sometimes being enraged to the point of inflicting serious physical damage on another and otehr times making alarming rumbling noises before falling depressed. He is also the reason that Latvia cannot grow very tall since he put an excessive amount of pressure on his head, and can be suspected as one of the reasons why Lithuania bears numarous scars and bruises on his torse. His ways and potential bipolar tendencies are believed as the result of his violent and lonely past, as well as the yearly attacks he takes from General Winter (the personification of Russia's harsh winters). A break in this innocent façade is usually accompanied by a menacing purple aura and a malevolent "kolkolkol" sounding sort of laughter. The majority of the nations have come to fear him (a good example would be the Baltic Trio, or Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, who result in simply shaking at the very mention of him) or quietly despise him, with some exceptions being his sisters Ukraine and Belarus, though they seem to either scare or worry Russia in return.



However, beneath all the cruelty he is known to demonstrate, it's well-known that Russia just wants to befriend most of his victims, so it seems that he doesn't fully understand the concept of friendship beyond being together often. It's also known that he one day wants to live in a world where everyone will be with him and they can live someplace warm and with sunflowers, his national flower. These intentions are, of course, nowhere near achievement. It's gone so far that Russia is classified as a yandere character by Himaruya.

As a child, Russia grew up mostly detached from the rest of the world, and was bullied frequently by surrounding Nations such as Denmark, Sweden, The Golden Horde (Later known as Mongolia) and the Teutonic Knights (later known as Prussia). His sisters Ukraine and Belarus could not offer him much help, so General Winter was usually the only one to protect him against the armies who weren't prepared for Russia's winters. Unfortunately, he was next to useless against the nations who were raised in the cold, leaving Russia defenceless. One of the only things Russia wanted as a child (and still now) were friends.

Some Russian stereotypes he portrays include are an intense love of vodka, a tendency to end his sentences with да (da or yes), being constantly prepared for cold weather, etc.

America
For the most part, America and Russia are shown to dislike each other, as based The Cold War, though it is shown that they can get along well, and sometimes ever cooperate. They have a semi-popular pairing, usually known as RusAme.

Belarus
Russia is Belarus' older brother. While Belarus loves her brother to the point of obsession and wishes to marry him, her feelings are not returned. Russia finds Belarus beautiful, but he sees her only as a younger sibling and is frightened by her behavior. She is shown to stalk him, as well as stick by his side to intimidate others. The Hetalia "desktop buddies" elaborated on Belarus' obsession for Russia further, with her stating her desire to get suggestive photos of her brother. According to Himaruya the dress that she wears is a gift from her brother, which is why she wears it so much even though it's rather old-fashioned and she tries to wear it as often as possible. According to her appearance in the Sealand and Latvia mascots, she'll only tell her hobbies to her brother. Despite her creepy love for him, many of the things she imagines herself doing with him are fairly normal, such as walking through the woods, singing, "moving along smoothly," proudly smiling at each other, being in awe of nature's splendor, and "having a talk about the greatness of love." However her diary entries occasionally involve her doing things such as going through his garbage, stealing all his underwear, smelling and wearing his underwear as a nightcap, looking through pornographic pictures of him, and making a fan site for him as well. She's also expressed the desire to be his underwear, as well as his toothbrush and fantasized about having sex with him. Although she easily becomes jealous when he shows attention to people besides her, she often tries to recruit other countries into becoming Russia's servants, implying she supports Russia's dream for everyone to "become one" with him. It's notable that, despite these things, when Belarus is not actively attempting to get him to marry her, they can get along peacefully and he at least values her opinion.

They can be shipped together as Belarus/Russia.

China
Russia and China seem to have a rather good relationship, though Russia is shown to sometimes bully or stalk China inside a large panda outfit and is sometimes waiting in China's home when he comes back. However, Russia still shows a sort of attachment to China, such as during the G8 meetings where he was convinced that China was the one missing while the others insisted that he only wanted China to need to be there (the one missing was later on revealed to have been Canada). They are also the two most detached members of the Allied Forces.

They are a rather popular slash pairing that commonly known by the title RoChu.

Lithuania
Lithuania and Russia first met in the strip The Yoke of Tartar, when Russia was under the rule of the Mongol Empire. In the strips, Russia promised to Lithuania that they would become friends once Russia had had more power, much to Lithuania's confusion. In the main storyline strips, Lithuania is part of the Soviet Union, and acts as a servant in Russia's house with the two other Baltic countries, Estonia and Latvia. All three of them live in constant terror around Russia, who appears oblivious to their behavior. They are sometimes shipped together as Russia/Lithuania.

Ukraine
Ukraine is Russia's older sister, and she acted as a mother to both him and Belarus when they were younger. They have a very complicated relationship. Russia finds her kind and steady, yet weak. After the fall of the Soviet Union, she is desperate to distance herself from Russia and make friends in the European Union. This makes Russia very depressed, and he wonders why Ukraine "hates" him. However, Ukraine still cares for Russia and will try to provide resources to him, only to be blocked by her bosses or other issues between them, such as paying for oil. Russia wonders why their relationship went sour, and tries reminiscing on a time in their childhood where they got along peacefully, only to realize that they had never seen eye-to-eye. She gave Russia his most frequently worn scarf on a brutal and cold day, but then told him he had to make Kiev successful in return. They are rarely shipped together, but can be Russia/Ukraine.

AU (Alternative Universe) Versions
'NOTE: A great deal of the information surrounding the AU versions of this character are purely fanon ideas - headcanons, if you will. Little official information has been given on the alternate universes; please do not believe any of the details not stated to be confirmed as canon to be official.'

Read more on the alternative versions of Russia listed or not listed below, at: Memes in fandom 

Nyotalia/Genderswapped (Nyo!)
Voiced by: Aoi Yuki (seiyū )

Nyo!Russia was first seen in the strip and soon-to-be episode I Was Overwhelmed With Heroines. She has not been given a name yet, but a majority of the people in the fandom refer to her as Anya Braginskaya, a diminutive of Anna  or Аня Брагинская (In Russian, last names change the ending based on the gender of said person), though in a blog post Himaruya stated that he liked her fanon name, though the name is still not official. Russia has a similar appearance to her male counterpart with beige-blonde hair, pale skin and violet eyes. She is also shown with straight, waist-length hair worn down, and in a chibi sketch, she is seen wearing a long pink winter coat with mittens and a furry hat. It's notable that nyo! Russia does not wear a scarf like her male counterpart. She is shown with a shovel instead of Russia's lead pipe, and commonly drawn accompanied by Matryoshka dolls. She is said to be more like a wearied mother figure who is emotionally unstable, rather than being childishly cruel like her male counterpart.

In the Nyotalia strip, nyo! Russia was accused by nyo! Italy of being the origin of all suffering and that she should be nicer to Estonia, to which nyo! Russia followed up by saying she only spread honey on him and rolled him around outside a little bit. Himaruya described her personality as roughly like a weary, motherly figure who can be emotionally unstable as opposed to her childishly cruel male counterpart. In fan works, she's often shown becoming easily upset rather than angry, and is a bit more of a pushover compared to the regular Russia.

Second Player/Another Color (2p!)
The Second Player for Russia bears many similarities in appearance to her original Nyotalia design, but with black and red clothing similar to that of a traditional mourner's outfit. Her eyes are a deeper shade of pink and are not reflective, giving her a rather ominous look, and her hair is more shadowy near the tips of each strand. Her fuzzy pink hat is replaced with a black one with a small veil, again similar to a mourner's and her winter coat is now black with deep red flower accents with an added black neckpiece, and reddish boots. The shovel is also slightly darker. The unofficial male 2p! design features Russia's classic winter uniform but black with red accents, and a brownish or red scarf. His hair can be drawn darker, varying from colors like honey blonde to dark brown, though most artists prefer to draw it pale, similar to their 1p! counterpart. He can also be shown with bags under his eyes, and his pipe seems to be slightly dented from use, indicating that he is violent, and hits people with the pipe often.

2p! Russia's expression seems to be happy, but not innocent like the nyo! version's, and she looks slightly sneakier. Fans normally show the 2p! Russia's character to be stoic, unsociable and distrustful, preferring to be alone rather than with others, unlike 1p! Russia's desire to have friends. They also lack the automatic psychotic aura their first player initially gives off, instead coming off as mature and pessimistic. However they're still shown as insane to some extent, as are all the other 2p!s; they are said to enjoy manipulating others through cruel games or force more than anything, but may be shown as just antisocial or in general disliking of the world. Their name is said to be Alexander, Ion or Nikolai Braginsky for the male and Anya Braginskaya  for the female.

Character Songs
Maru Kaite Chikyuu (Russia)

Hatafutte Parade (Russia)

Mawaru Chikyuu Rondo (Russia)

My Heart Has A Light

Зима (Winter)

White Flame

Wa! Wa!! World Ondo (featured)

Peace Sounds Nice (featured)

We Wish You A Merry Christmas (featured)

United Nations Star ☆ (featured)

Trivia
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 * In the World War-set strips, Russia technically represents the Soviet Union, rather than the Russian Federation (as evidenced by his flag). However, Himaruya explained in liner notes that he was simply called Russia in the series due to it being cuter and the kana being simpler to write. His birthday being given as December 30th also corresponds with the date that the Soviet Union was founded. Although another possibility for Russia's birthday could be June 12, when that date corresponds with the day the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation had adopted the State Sovereignty of the RSFSR on June 12, 1990. To this day, Russia Day is celebrated on June 12.
 * While the flag used for Russia is the Soviet flag in most of the webcomic, the published version of the manga, as well as the anime and merchandise, has opted to use the standard Russian flag.
 * Russia's jacket is a stylized Red Army overcoat, with the colors reversed.
 * In response to a fan's question (circa 2007), Himaruya stated that Russia is unaware of his own cruelty.
 * In chapter four of the Hetalia manga, after a heart pops out of Russia's chest, he claims it as his own, saying "it just pops out of me sometimes". Some fans see it as possibly symbolic of the heartbreak he's suffered in his time, or a representation of just how mentally damaged he is (while the other Allies are completely freaked out, Russia doesn't even seem to mind that his own heart is literally falling out.)
 * Notes in the special edition booklet for Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 3 revealed that Russia was originally intended to be dark-haired and middle-aged in appearance, and a typical large, crybaby older man who drinks. The current Russia was first introduced in the first chapter, and it's a "marvel" how he wound up the way he did.
 * The instrumental part of his Marukaite Chikyuu is from "Коробейники/Korobeiniki" a Russian folk song popularized outside of Russia because of its use in Tetris