Actually..I have read reports of the Russians themselves making jokes about it...so..
One of them was: " Those aren't meteorites falling, its the Americans trying out a new weapon."
My family that lives IN the house take their shoes off at the door. Or I make them mop the floor for me..:-p
As for other people that come into my home..no..I don't ever ask them to remove their shoes. I think its very rude and tacky to...