In the third season of Stranger Things, the Soviet Union, including the Russian scientist Alexei, infiltrated Hawkins, Indiana. The reason behind this was the previous interdimensional incursion that had occurred in the town. The Soviets were developing experimental technology to open gates to this alternate dimension, similar to what had been done by Hawkins Lab in the US. However, their attempts to open these gates within the Soviet Union had failed. They believed that Hawkins, being a site of a previous interdimensional incursion, was a weak point in the fabric of space-time that could be exploited by their technology, known as the Key. Therefore, they commenced a secret operation to infiltrate Hawkins, hoping to exploit any remaining trace of the original interdimensional incursion.