Vladimir Artemovich Makarov (10 April 1970–21 January 2017) was a Russian gunrunner, terrorist, and former soldier in the Spetsnaz and VDV. He initiated the events of World War III, beginning with the massacre at the Zakhaev International Airport in Moscow. After his attempts to obtain the nuclear launch codes from Russian President Boris Vorshevsky were unsuccessful, he went into hiding. Captain John Price of Task Force 141 pursued Makarov and killed him after a grueling battle.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Little is known about Makarov's early life, aside from his birth on 10 April 1970 in Ivanovo, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He eventually attended the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow and graduated as a captain in the Soviet Army. Makarov served as a paratrooper in the 98th Guards Airborne Division of the VDV, which was stationed in Berlin when the Wall fell.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Makarov was transferred to the Spetsnaz and served two tours in Chechnya during the First Chechen War. As per the declassified documents, Makarov was responsible for overseeing several brutal “cleansing” operations in Chechnya. The United Nations eventually investigated the actions of the Russians, with Makarov's name appearing among the top of the list of offenders. Instead of being tried in The Hague, he accepted a dishonorable discharge from the Spetsnaz; Makarov was furious with modern Russia and the West for what had occurred.
Ultranationalist Party[]
Makarov started working for various criminal factions, engaging in human trafficking, bombings, and assassinations. Imran Zakhaev, a former Soviet interior minister, invited Makarov to join the Russian Ultranationalist Party and work under his supervision. Zakhaev was able to control Makarov's chaotic behavior, mainly due to Makarov's respect for Zakhaev.
Pripyat[]
Makarov became close friends with Yuri Astakhov, who was also a former Spetsnaz operative. In 1996, Makarov and Yuri attended Zakhaev's nuclear arms deal in Pripyat, Ukraine. As Makarov told Yuri how important this deal would be for the Ultranationalist cause, Zakhaev's arm was shot off by Lieutenant John Price of the SAS. Zakhaev was quickly evacuated by Makarov to a safe place where his wound could be treated.
Continued attacks[]
Over the next fifteen years, Makarov further dedicated himself to the Ultranationalist cause. In 2001, Zakhaev instructed Makarov to orchestrate a bombing of a Moscow city bus, which killed 29 people and injured 19. In the same year, Makarov utilized a rigged London Underground train to detonate under Piccadilly Circus, resulting in 407 casualties. He also orchestrated a massacre at the GUM department store in Moscow, resulting in 87 casualties.
The following year, Makarov hijacked a Greek oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea, demanding a $5 million ransom. Two crew members and an entire Royal Hellenic Navy boarding party were killed before the payment was received. In a separate incident, three Russian Army soldiers were killed, and a robbery of $1.5 million from a Zurich bank was done.
In 2003, Makarov began repressing Western-backed groups in the North Caucasus, using assassinations, bombings, and arson. Makarov was also responsible for the murder of Ilya Lovitch, a Moscow journalist investigating political crimes in the region. He also bombed several Kazakh government buildings, which resulted in 245 casualties. Makarov also authorized the hijacking of two Kreigler Airline passenger aircraft, which collided with one another and resulted in the deaths of 378 people, including 8 of his own men.
In 2004, Makarov robbed an HBS bank in Istanbul, Turkey, before abducting 15 college students from Moscow. Five of the students were killed before their ransom was given. Two US embassies in Africa were bombed, with 28 people dead and 48 injured. In 2005, Makarov broke into an armored truck in Moscow, taking the 3 million rubles inside and killing the security detail, consisting of three guards. He also orchestrated the hijacking of a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea and tortured the Western passengers until a $5 million ransom was sent to him.
In 2006, Makarov robbed a Russian Post depot of 32 million rubles, as well as killing British designer Rob Millington and three US airmen based in Turkmenistan. Makarov also provided assistance to the Janjaweed and Sudanese armed forces against rebels, thereby implicating him in human rights violations. In 2007, Makarov captured and beheaded a Mossad agent who was investigating his attachments to Islamist forces, as well as assassinating Pakistani politician Hasni al-Bura. Makarov also bombed a Russian-German pipeline in Belarus after Gasneft, a German gas company, ignored Makarov's ransom demands. He also robbed a Siberian diamond mining company of $17 million of gemstones.
In 2008, Makarov bombed a Swedish furniture store in a Saint Petersburg mall, causing 100 casualties. Makarov also ambushed an FSB vehicle and killed the five agents inside, as well as abducting and murdering a SibGaz owner's family. A year later, he bombed US oil company offices in Baku, Azerbaijan, which killed three people. Makarov also orchestrated unsuccessful bomb plots at an English-speaking school and a soccer stadium during a game; the latter had police burst a major pipe to halt the match and deny Makarov publicity. During this time, he made more than $2.1 million from trafficking operations, laundering it through Russian and Ukrainian banks before distributing it to Cypriot, Lebanese, Saudi Arabian, and Syrian banks.
His human trafficking operations mainly consisted of moving poor women from Eastern Europe to the west, where they would be enslaved and forced into prostitution across Europe, the Persian Gulf, and America. Drug trafficking was conducted on the Russian section of the Herdin Trail, where Makarov and his men provided protection for heroin producers coming from Afghanistan.
Basra[]
Makarov and Yuri were eventually present in Basra, Iraq, during the US invasion in 2011, with the Americans intent on finding and apprehending the Insurgency's leader, Khaled al-Asad. As the forces evacuated after discovering a thermonuclear weapon, Makarov gave out the order to detonate the weapon after calling al-Asad. The weapon was detonated at a safe distance from Makarov and Yuri, with over 30,000 US Marines killed in the blast. After the interrogation and seeming death of al-Asad by the SAS, Makarov sent the surviving and recovering Khaled al-Asad to an Ultranationalist black site for his failure.
Rise to power[]
After Zakhaev's death in the Altay Mountains, Makarov began to serve Boris Vorshevsky and the remaining members of the Ultranationalist Party. Vorshevsky and his moderate faction quickly began to distance themselves from Makarov and the extremists in the Party, who had formed the Inner Circle. Makarov and the Inner Circle were soon ousted from the party due to Makarov's belief of a return to Tsardom as well as his extreme tactics, Makarov swearing to kill Vorshevsky for his "betrayal to the cause."
Makarov began to resent John MacTavish and John Price, the two men who killed Zakhaev, and began a massive revenge plot. Makarov also began committing several terrorist attacks in London and Moscow, prompting NATO to take action against him. In 2013, The newly formed Task Force 141 conducted Operation Kingfish in an attempt to capture Makarov, but Captain Price was apprehended by the Ultranationalists and sent to the Petropavlovsk Gulag in Russia.
Planning an attack[]
By 2015, Makarov topped the CIA's Most Wanted list. After Vorshevsky's victory in the Second Russian Civil War in 2016 by election as president, Makarov began planning a terrorist attack on the Zakhaev International Airport; this information was discovered by USMC Lieutenant General Herschel Shepherd, who began to orchestrate a plan to ignite a war between Ultranationalist Russia and the United States to further his power.
Shepherd tasked PFC Joseph Allen with infiltrating the Inner Circle under the identity of Alexei Borodin. Shepherd covertly leaked the info on Borodin to Makarov, who believed that he would be an excellent pawn to continue his plans. They were to utilize American weapons and use US military jargon to paint the illusion that they were CIA operatives conducting a false flag operation; this would spark World War III and continue Makarov's revenge plan on the world.
No Russian[]
On 13 August 2016, Makarov and his top men—Viktor Ulyanov, Lev Khurtin, Kiril Rhudov, Yuri Astakhov, and Allen as Borodin—drove to the airport with Anatoly Salkov to evacuate them in a stolen ambulance past the terminal. However, Yuri attempted to stop the massacre by informing the FSB, knowing the consequences of performing this attack. Makarov shot Yuri in the parking garage and left him to die for this betrayal. The four entered an elevator to the airport proper, toting M240s and M4A1s provided by Brazilian arms dealer Alejandro Rojas.
Makarov reminded his compatriots to not speak Russian or give any clue as to their true identity before exiting the elevator. They immediately opened fire, killing dozens of people. They continued making their way through, killing every man, woman, and child they saw before eventually encountering FSB agents outside. Khurtin and Rhudov were killed in the firefight, requiring Allen and Makarov to fight their way to Salkov and his ambulance.
Salkov immediately congratulated Makarov for the strong message; Makarov quickly turned and shot Allen as he entered the ambulance. Makarov killed Allen so that they could leave an American body in the airport, prompting Russia to declare war on the United States.
World War III[]
Enemy of my enemy[]
General Shepherd soon assumed supreme command of the US military, fighting off the Russian military as they invaded the East Coast. Shepherd informed Task Force 141 of two possible locations that Makarov could be located: an estate near the Georgian-Russian border or an Afghan aircraft boneyard. Most of TF141 was sent to the estate, including Gary "Roach" Sanderson and Simon "Ghost" Riley, while a smaller contingent, including Price and MacTavish, went to Afghanistan.
After Roach and Ghost fought off a great deal of Inner Circle terrorists and retrieved a hard drive with info connecting Shepherd to Makarov, Shepherd shot both and burned their bodies, sending his Shadow Company to kill the remainder of TF141 at both locations. Price contacted Makarov after Shadow Company began to attack them, asking for information on Shepherd, as he was a mutual enemy of both of them. Makarov told Price that Shepherd was at Site Hotel Bravo before also telling him that Makarov would see Price in hell.
Escalation[]
After Price and Soap assassinated Shepherd, Makarov escalated his plan by launching chemical attacks across Europe and using the Russian military to conquer the continent. To achieve this goal, Makarov formed alliances with bomb maker Viktor "Volk" Khristenko and African warlord Waraabe: Volk would use his company Fregata Industries to distribute chemical weapons to rogue European and African distribution centers, while Waraabe would seize the centers in Africa and deliver the contents directly to the Russian Army and the Inner Circle.
Makarov also formed alliances with several of Vorshevsky's warmongering generals, who betrayed Vorshevsky due to his plans for peace talks with the US Vice President in Hamburg, Germany. His location and flight plans were leaked to Makarov, who dispatched several Inner Circle members to infiltrate the president's Il-96-300PU and kidnap him and his daughter, Alena.
The mission became much more complicated for Makarov due to the efforts of FSO agents Andrei Harkov and Leonid Pudovkin, though it was still successful. Makarov shot Harkov as he opened the door to his helicopter, which he assumed was a rescue helicopter. He immediately captured Vorshevsky, before dispatching his men to find Alena; he then killed Harkov before flying the president to a diamond mine in Siberia, where he was to be held.
Prague[]
Makarov was scheduled to meet with his advisors at the Hotel Lustig in Prague, Czechia; however, Makarov was aware of an assassination attempt planned on him by the disavowed Task Force 141 and Russian loyalists. He rigged a church tower from which Yuri and Soap would shoothim, as well as capturing Sergeant Mikhail Kamarov as he infiltrated the hotel. Before the tower exploded, Makarov told Yuri that he should never have come to the tower before detonating the explosives and mortally wounding Soap.
Now back at the diamond mine, Makarov spoke with one of his top men, Alexi Pogodin, via a video screen at Karlstenj Castle. Pogodin informed Makarov that Alena's safehouse had been discovered in Berlin; Makarov then teased Vorshevsky about this until he cut the feed. Despite Team Metal's efforts in Berlin, Alena was brought to the diamond mine by Inner Circle members.
Crumbling plans[]
The remaining members of TF141 and the entirety of Team Metal, minus Derek "Frost" Westbrook, were dispatched to the diamond mine to rescue the president and his daughter before Makarov extracted the nuclear launch codes. The operation was a success, but Team Metal had to provide cover for the evac helicopter as the mine collapsed. Vorshevsky and the US President soon met at the White House to begin peace talk, effectively bringf World War III to an end. Makarov and his remaining men quickly went into hiding, with the redeemed Task Force 141 on their trail.
Dust to dust[]
Price called Makarov and threatened him over the phone. He mocked Soap's death, prompting Price to respond that Makarov's world was being torn apart piece by piece. He then informed Price that he would not need to look far. On 21 January 2017, Price discovered that Makarov was hiding at the Hotel Oasis in Dubai, UAE. Price and Yuri stormed the Hotel in juggernaut suits, fighting their way through dozens of terrorists and Oasis guards to reach Makarov. Yuri was impaled by a piece of rebar after a helicopter destroyed the floor they were on, leaving Price the only one capable of stopping Makarov.
Price jumped on the escaping Makarov's helicopter, killing the pilots before the controls were accidentally shot, causing it to crash onto the helipad. Makarov recovered before Price, ready to shoot him with a Desert Eagle; however, Yuri ambushed Makarov, and was quickly killed. Price used this distraction to attack Makarov, beating him with his fists before wrapping a steel cable around his neck and pushing him through the glass ceiling. The two fell, with Makarov being hanged. Price lit a cigar triumphantly as he gazed at Makarov's lifeless body hanging from the rafters.