"The country? The USSR? The Союз Советских Социалистических Республик*..." Well, he did accidentally write a novel on Stalinist purges, love and betrayal, some research was required. "You know, Stalin, Lenin, all those people?"

((That is, indeed, Soyuz Sovetskikh Socialisticheskikh Republik, or the USSR in Russian. Because I'm a geek.))