Maximilian Andreevich Poplavsky

Berlioz's uncle, who lives in Kiev. Bulgakov himself was from Kiev, where he lived not on Institute Street, but Andreevskii spusk. The idea namely of an uncle from Kiev may have come from the Russian phrase "v ogorode buzina, v Kieve diadia" -- literally "elderberries in the garden, an uncle in Kiev" which roughly means "nonsense."