Ekranoplan...ground effect aircraft on a grand scale

Let's start with a generalization, the Russians like to do it big! Really big. So a simple hovercraft that might be functional for commando style warfare didn't agree with their emotional agenda.
Big!

They wanted a bird that would carry an army in style and fast. Two large designs came off the stands, authorized, designed and created. Here they are, just remember beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. One more thing, they weren't all that pleasant to land. Hitting the water in the big bird with an airspeed around 200 mph sounded bad and felt bad. Design problems didn't sink these rocks though, politics and economics did.