The State Duma found that Cheburashka has Jewish roots.

      During consideration of the 2026–2028 budget, the head of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes, Andrey Makarov, unexpectedly said that the well-known Soviet character Cheburashka is Jewish, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

      The remark came during discussion of amendments to the 2026–2028 budget, where, among other things, funds are planned to be allocated for the "Rodnaya igrushka" (Native Toy) competition, a search for domestic replacements for foreign toys.

      Makarov explained his joke by saying that in the cartoon Cheburashka was found in a crate of oranges, and in Soviet times citrus fruits were supplied to the USSR only by Israel. Colleagues tried to object, pointing out that the oranges could have come from Morocco or Spain, but the deputy insisted: mandarins were brought from Morocco, and Spain did not send oranges to the Union at that time.

      Recall that, in Eduard Uspensky's book, Cheburashka is an "animal unknown to science" who lived in the tropics and accidentally ended up in a crate of oranges, after which he ended up in a big city and befriended Gena the Crocodile.