Tugarin Zmey is a creature which personifies evil and cruelty and has a dragon-like nature; originates from East Slavic lore...
Tugarin Zmeyevich is best known from a bylina* about his duel with Alyosha Popovich**, which comes in many different versions.
When the two approach each other in a field, Tugarin is hissing like a snake and his horse is neighing like a beast. Tugarin's torso is covered with fiery snakes.
It appears that Tugarin represents the element of fire, which he uses in different forms as a weapon. He threatens to strangle Alyosha Popovich with smoke, throw fiery sparks at him, scorch him with fire, and shoot charred logs at him.
It also appears that Tugarin represents the element of water, because their duel usually takes place near the Safat River.
At the same time, Tugarin is also a dragon. He is flying in the sky flapping his paper-like wings, which fail him when it rains.
Alyosha Popovich wins the duel, cuts Tugarin's body into pieces and scatters them across the field...
Tugarin Zmeyevich is a chtonical character of an ancient dragon-fighting mythos, related to Zmey Gorynych, Fiery Dragon, etc.
In Kievan Rus, Tugarin Zmeyevich became a symbol of paganism and wild steppes full of dangers.
*Bylina (or Bylyna) is a traditional East Slavic oral epic narrative poem.
**Alyosha Popovich is a folk hero of Kievan Rus, a bogatyr (i.e., a medieval knight-errant). He is the youngest of the three main bogatyrs, the other two being Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets. All three are represented together at Viktor Vasnetsov's famous painting Bogatyrs.
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