Uncle Styopa (Russian: Дядя Стёпа; IPA: [ˈdʲædʲə ˈstʲɵpɐ]), also known as Dyadya Stepa, is a series of poems written by Russian children's poet Sergey Mikhalkov. They were written in trochaic tetrameter. The poems featured a brave and noble militsioner (a policeman) who was unusual due to his extreme height. The name of the protagonist of the series was Stepan Stepanov (Russian: Степан Степанов), or Styopa, which is a diminutive of the Russian given name Stepan. He performed various acts of good will, such as rescuing people, preventing train crashes, helping firefighters, stopping a school bully or working as a police officer for the Soviet Militsiya. Styopa is a wise, brave, generous, noble, fun-loving character. He fights against injustice and serves as an inspiration to the pioneers.