Hopper did not go to Russia by choice; he was captured and taken there as a prisoner. In Stranger Things, he is shown surviving the Starcourt Mall explosion and then being seized and transported by Soviet forces to a prison camp in Kamchatka, Russia, where they treat him as a political prisoner and force him into labor.

In‑story reason

Hopper ends up in Russia because he interferes with the Soviets’ secret project to open a gate to the Upside Down beneath Starcourt Mall in Hawkins. After surviving the blast, he is captured by remaining Russian operatives, who view him as a threat and remove him from U.S. soil to a remote prison where they can interrogate and exploit him.

Role in the plot

Having Hopper in Russia lets the story continue the Cold War “Russians and the Upside Down” thread and shows him suffering and fighting to get back to Joyce and Eleven. His time there also becomes the basis for Joyce and Murray’s rescue mission, tying the Russian subplot back to the main Hawkins storyline.