The flag of Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (Сове́тский Сою́з), U.S.S.R., (СССР) or in full the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик), was a state which existed from 1922 to 1991, based around Marxist-Leninist ideology, a form of Communism. After WW2, the Soviet Union became known as a superpower, and led the Warsaw Pact, an alliance based in Eastern Europe of various Communist nations. They faced off against NATO, which included nations such as the USA, UK and much of Western Europe and this was known as the Cold War.
The USSR was a formidable force, being the second state to build nuclear weapons, which it did in large numbers, and was slso the first into space, beating the USA. After it collapsed, a power gap appeared in the 1990s (seen in GoldenEye etc).
Bond in the USSR (films)[]
One of the GoldenEye satellites, a piece of Soviet technology, lasting into the post-Soviet age
Bond visits the USSR on a number of occasions, and has frequent dealings with its agents and military men. Although he is frequently up against such people, not all of these encounters are hostile by any means. Sometimes Bond and more moderate elements in the USSR, such as General Gogol, have to ally to stop nuclear war and other horrors. SPECTRE often tries to move the power blocs against each other.
- From Russia with Love - the Soviet Union forms a major part of the plotline of this film.
- In You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker, the Soviet Union comes under threat from hostile space forces, which also want to attack the west.
- In The Spy Who Loved Me, the USSR faces a similar threat, this time from the sea. Bond is forced to team up with a female Soviet counterpart.
- In For Your Eyes Only, Bond competes with the Soviets to gain control of the ATAC.
- In Octopussy, the renegade General Orlov tries to make the Cold War go hot.
- Bond is shown to be in Siberia at the start of A View to a Kill before he escapes on a submarine.
- In The Living Daylights, Bond has to deal with a Soviet defector.
- In GoldenEye, the pre-title sequence at the Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility takes place during Cold War-era Soviet Russia, with Alec Trevelyan's background being related to World War II-era Lienz Cossacks. A significant part of the film itself takes place in post-Soviet Russia.
USSR vs Russia[]
The Soviet Union was formed from the Russian Empire after a violent revolution, and was often wrongly referred to as Russia in books and films. In reality, it was made up of a number of nations and countries, bound into a political union, in which Russia was the dominant force. Bond visits some of these in addition to Russia, and they appear in the films. For example, a tracking station in Kazakhstan is shown in GoldenEye.
In Tomorrow Never Dies for example, there is a reference to an arms fair on the "Russian border" with Turkey - however Russia itself has no border with Turkey, so it is presumably in Georgia or Azerbaijan.
Examples of non-Russian Soviet characters are Xenia Onatopp, who is of Georgian origin.
KGB, SMERSH, etc[]
The main intelligence agency of the Soviet Union in its later days was the KGB. SMERSH is also originally a Soviet outfit, designed as a hands on counterintelligence agency, but it gains considerable autonomy from central government.
In the non-Eon Bond spoof, Casino Royale, Soviet troops may be seen bidding in an auction and also active in East Berlin. The SMERSH represented in this film is completely shorn of its Soviet roots.