Ilya Bagrov

Early life
Ilya grew up in the remote corners of the Soviet Union, a slum on the outskirts of Svobodny. Growing up where he did, and his father disappearing when he was 3 years old, made his life into a daily struggle for survival.

At the age of 12, Ilya was a constant victim of violence from older kids around his block, which occasionally ended up with Ilya hospitalized. These harsh circumstances drove him to take up boxing, which he practiced for around 6 years, before he had to join the army.

Army years
Ilya served for over 5 years in the army, unlike the usual 2 that everybody else did. This is due to the nature of his service.

Around a month after he got drafted, Ilya was selected, and got transfered from the 67th Motor Rifle Division to an unknown locale. He would later find out that he was recruited to a unit which was designated to carry out Black Operations.

The unit was associated with the FSB rather than the armed forces. It had the highest level of classification. So much so, that it's existance was officially disavowed. All the records it appeared on were classified beyond 'Top Secret', and even there it bared a code name: 13 Otdel (13й Отдел) - Department 13.

The people who were selected to be recruited were planned to serve for 6-8 years, and not 2 like everyone else. Just the first 2 years were dedicated to training, during which the operative would gain tremendous knowledge and warfare capability.

The unit's designation meant that it operated both domestically and abroad. By the time he was discharged, Ilya had taken part in 27 operations, around 3 continents.

Just before he could finish his full 6 year service, the unit was disbanded. The reason for this isn't conclusive. Most assumptions claim that it was due to the last operation the conducted, during which 6 out of 10 operatives lost their lives. Ilya and 3 others were the only ones who managed to survive.

Criminal career
Russia in the 90's had a thriving criminal underworld. At the time, over 750,000 ex-KGB agents and soldiers worked as contractors for different criminal organizations, among them - Ilya.

Shortly after he returned to his home-town, Ilya's childhood friend, Nikolai, got him a job for a local mobster who employed Nikolai aswell. This lasted until another organization from neighboring Vladivostok started to move in, killing off the competition. Seeing his co-workers getting sent to the morgue one by one, and his mother passing away due to a heart failure, drove him to leave his home town and head for Moscow.

About 8 months after he first set foot in Moscow, Ilya was noticed by Igor Vasiliev, a man who headed one of the most ruthless, most dangerous organizations in the country. He offered him a job and Ilya accepted. During the time he had worked for Vasiliev, he gained alot of experience and knowledge in a veriety of criminal fields.

In 2007, Vasiliev's organization had fell apart. Vasiliev himself had been sentenced to 54 consecutive life sentences. The rest of the group's members had either been killed or joined up with other organizations. Ilya decided to lay low and moved to a small village, about 120 kilometers east of Krasnoyarsk. Almost two years later, during the evening, 4 Black, foreign made SUVs pulled up infront of Ilya's house. Knowing he is wanted by both sides of the law, he didn't stay long enough to find out which one was in those vehicles.

After realizing that there's no safe place in Russia, he decided to leave the country. He used up nearly all of his resources to assume a new identity and departed on a plane heading to Liberty City, USA.

Privet, Liberty City
Like most Russian immigrants, Ilya settled in Hove Beach, a part of Broker known for it's thriving Eastern European community.

Personality & Attributes
Ilya is generally a rather introverted person. He would rather avoid any unnecessary confrontations and will only use violence as a last resort, despite his violent past. He is kind to his friends and familiars, though he has none at present.

It's rare to see him display any kind of facial expression or abnormal body language, making him very hard to predict.

Ilya's personality was largely influenced by the military. Though he may not show it, he is somewhat shell-shocked and has several, deep, emotional scars. The most significant event was the last operation he participated in, during which he had lost 6 out of 9 other fellow combatants.

Skills and Abilities
Special Forces Training - A tough and rigorous training regime, over the course of 28 months has made Ilya into an expert on a wide array of warfare aspects. He has knowledge on how to use nearly every type of firearm, from handguns to projectile weapons, aswell as the skill to wield them. He is proficient in hand-to-hand combat, a quality derived from his boxing days aswell as his military training. He is extremely durable and can take alot of both physical and mental abuse. Other areas of expertise include survival training, tracking, counter-terrorist training, reconnaissance, psychological warfare and various other fields.

Multilingual - Speaks Russian, English, Ukrainian, Chechen, Pashtun, Georgian and Tajik. This skill also derives from his military training. Having been designated to carry out operations over seas, mainly in the regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Ilya was taught some of the local languages to some degree.

Accomplished Driver - Knowledge in handling various kinds of vehicles such as cars, motorbikes, 4x4's and trucks. He learnt this during his days running cars and other vehicles in Russia.

Handyman - Growing up without a father forced Ilya to be the man of the house and take care of various infrastructure-related problems around the house.