Dmitrij Volkov


 * "I'm Director of Executive Action for H.A.R.M. Of course, that's just a polite euphemism for being a cruel and sadistic professional assassin."
 * -Dmitrij Volkov

Being one of the series' main antagonists, Volkov appears as a bald and tall Russian guy who wears an eye-patch and sports a distinctive handlebar mustache. Volkov enjoyed reading detective novels and famous of his high skill in the field of torture and espionage.

Born in Kamchatka, Soviet Union in 1921. Distinguished himself as an academic prodigy and master chess player by the age of eight, by which time, he had also earned notoriety for refining various torture techniques on neighbors' pets. He joined the NKVD in 1937 and served as some sort of disciplinarian in a Gulag near Kiev. His whereabouts during the war are unknown, except for a brief mention in 1943, when he was spotted by an O.S.S. officer at Leningrad, interrogating prisoners of war who would later disappear without a trace.

Some time after the war, he emerged again, this time in the employ of SMERSH. He's personally credited with well over 1,000 executions (mostly spies and Soviet dissidents). In 1961, a failed assassination attempt left him without an eye. He was shot in the face at close range by one of UNITY's finest agents at the time Bruno Lawrie.

He escaped by throwing himself off a 70 foot (21 meter) cliff into an icy river. It was presumed that he survived, as no body was ever recovered. Volkov now currently works for the criminal/terrorist organization H.A.R.M. as its Director of Executive Action. Since joining H.A.R.M., he has become one of the world's most highly skilled and most notorious assassins. After killing his targets, he often leaves his trademark, a lily, either directly-on or near the victims.

In the 1960's, Volkov suffered from insomnia. Deputy Director Cottswald was attempting to retrieve a sample of the UNITY airborne sleeping agent to see if it would assist Volkov's insomnia. Volkov has a height of 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) and he also enjoyed Skiing before his skiing accident in 1968.

The Operative: No One Lives Forever
Volkov traveled the world killing UNITY agents thanks to information provided by a traitor within UNITY. Mr. Jones sent Lawrie and Cate Archer on a mission to Morocco to protect American Ambassador Morris Monroe. The agents quickly discovered that this was a trap set by Volkov to kill them. At the Grand Caravan Hotel, Volkov succeeds in killing Lawrie, but Archer escapes saving the hotel guests in the process. Archer tracks down Volkov to a coastal hideout where she escapes another trap laid for her. Enraged Volkov kills the men that allowed her to escape and vows to track her down. He also finished the assassination attempt on Monroe by pulling alongside the Ambassador and killed him with a Bacalov Corrector while Archer was heading to the coast.

On September 19, 1967, Volkov uses the bio-weapon developed by Dr. Otto Schenker to blow up Club Metropole in Monaco killing all of the occupants inside.

As Archer exits the Dumas Industrial Enterprises corporate headquarters, she finds Volkov holding agent Tom Goodman hostage in attempt to capture her. Goodman sacrifices himself, getting shot in the process as Archer escapes.

Much later on, Volkov is seen inside the Dumas Chateau, informing Felicity Dumas that Archer has escaped alongside Amstrong. He is instructed to leave and track down Amstrong later.

After Archer escapes from the Dumas Chateau in the German Alps, Volkov confronts her demanding the list of victims that she obtained. The two of them fall into an icy crevice and a gun battle ensues. Archer was able to defeat Volkov, him wielding an AK-47 before he fell farther into the crevice.

After Archer had defeated Melvin Blitzny and discovered the traitor within UNITY, Volkov is seen reporting to The Director about the bad news.



Contract J.A.C.K.
Having intercepted some communications from an evil Italian organization known as Danger Danger, Volkov hires contract killer John Jack to find out what they are up to. Keeping in contact with Jack via a two-way radio, Volkov guides him to the goal of recovering Dr. Harij. Once Jack delivered him to H.A.R.M. Headquarters in Japan, Volkov shoots Jack and leaves him for dead. Unfortunately for Volkov, Jack survived and sabotaged his Skis before his vacation. This contributed to the accident which left Volkov confined to a Mechanized Wheelchair.

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.s Way
Volkov continues his quest for revenge on Archer by requesting the services of Isako and her Ninjas. He could be pleased to find out that Isako has succeeded, but due to lack of death proof he started mistrusting Isako, which was mutual. Later he discovers that Archer still lives, enraging him and causing to push his henchmen into Man-Handler.

Volkov then hires Pierre the Mime King and his group of murderous Mimes to complete the job of killing Archer. Unfortunately for Volkov, the Mimes are unable to fulfill their mission after several attempts.

While Archer is attempting to escape from H.A.R.M. Headquarters, she is confronted by Volkov. He uses the Missiles equipped in his Mechanized Wheelchair in an attempt to kill Archer. Archer is able to overcome Volkov's attack and he is thrown into the artificial Lava.

Somehow Volkov has survived once more, and after Project: Omega fails thanks to Archer's efforts, Volkov announces he is quitting H.A.R.M. As The Director screams at him for quitting, Volkov rolls off.

Trivia

 * Jock Blaney also voiced John Jack in Contract J.A.C.K. a prequel to the No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way. That makes him do voice work for all three games.
 * Volkov's alias of "The Butcher" came from the inside box cover of the US release of NOLF1.
 * Volkov appeared as a boss fight in both first and second NOLF game in the series. First game he was using an AK-47 and second game he was raining explosives upon Cate Archer from his wheelchair.
 * Volkov, along with Archer (counting her cameo appearance) is the only character to appear in all three games.