 was originally going to use the Soviet Union as the main villains but at the last minute, the comic was ordered to change them into a fictional villain to avoid antagonizing the Soviet Embassy in London, due to Britain and the Western world being engaged in détente with the Soviet Union during the mid/late 1970s.The Volgan Republic of Asia was founded when an individual called Vashkov united the Volgograd citizens into a fascist party named after the local river.Leading the party to a military coup in 1991, he declared himself the sole leader of a unified Russia which was renamed the Volgan Republic.