the bear

[Pavel Samsonov]

One of very simplistic explanations of the reference to Russia as "the
country of bears" can be this:
Russia (and USSR not so long ago) has been the ONLY European country (maybe
with some exception of Finland, Norway and Sweden), where bears still exist
in considerable numbers.
Even in Belarus bears are not unusual. It was only 15 to 20 years ago that
reports of bears attacking people in forests were quite common.
Nothing of this kind can be encountered anywhere in Europe. I think bears
became extinct in Europe quite a while ago. Bears require quite considerable
areas of forest to survive. So the existence of bears in the forests of
Russia could suggest to foreigners that Russia was/is a huge, forested, and
consequently, not exactly "civilized" country.

Pavel Samsonov

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