The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or the Soviet Union, was a country that existed from 1922 until 1991. It included what are now Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and several other countries. In 1959, when the Dyatlov hikers died, the USSR was led by Premier Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971). He oversaw much of the early Soviet space program, including the successful launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. Many of his policies were aimed at undoing some of the harm and repression people in the USSR had experienced while the dictator Joseph Stalin was in power. This period of time was known as the Khrushchev Thaw, a time of cultural flourishing when people gained freedoms they had not had for decades. 

Although the late 1950s were in many ways a good time for the Soviet people, life in the USSR still came with many restrictions. People could not go abroad, and there were harsh limitations on what kinds of cultural production, such as music, books, or movies, that they could access. Anything that was not deemed sufficiently pro-Communist was liable to be censored or banned. Government actions and regulations were often inscrutable, and people were aware that secret police officers, primarily those working for the KGB, could be observing them at any time.