"Karelin"

«

There was this one really blond guy, Russian for sure. "Are you Razor? Where is Cooper?" He flipped when we wouldn't tell him, just went down the line and knifed us, one, two, three, like that. Sergeant Ian Simmons warns Razor Team about "Karelin"

»

"Karelin"
Born	Unknown
Place of birth	Soviet Union
Died	October 19, 2009
Cause ofdeath	Gunshot wounds
Affiliation	Russian Armed Forces
Status	Deceased
Nationality	Russian
Gender	Male
Languages	Russian, English
Appearances	Operation Harvest Red
Games

"Karelin" (Russian: Карелин) is one of the main antagonists of ArmA 2's Operation Harvest Red campaign.

Background

Not much is known about Karelin's past, aside from the fact that he became a Spetsnaz team leader at some point prior to or during the Soviet Union's collapse. He fervently opposes Chernarussian independence, and - through the use of pro-Russian proxies within the country, seeks nothing more than (what he sees) a rightful return of all former USSR territories back into Russia's fold.

Operation Harvest Red (2009)

Without knowledge from either the Russian government or the military, Karelin eventually foments a plot to incite civil war in the upstart nation, supplying arms, funding, and equipment to anti-government groups. The largest of these opposition groups, the so-called Chernarussian Movement of the Red Star (ChDKZ), would be the perfect catalysts. Already, the group had attempted to overthrow the Chernarussian government but had failed miserably due to a lack of support.

Karelin personally contacted the leaders of the rebel organisation - Gregori Lopotev and Mikola Bardak, and through his contacts in the Kremlin, arranged to have arms smugglers and other sympathetic groups support them. Members of Karelin's own Spetsnaz team would also be providing support by training and leading ChDKZ into battle.

For two months, Karelin and his men would continue bide time and slowly stockpile the ChDKZ's manpower and resources until the moment to strike against the Chernarussian government presented itself. On September 1st, 2009, Karelin instructed Lopotev to carry out a second uprising.

Unlike their first failed attempt, this uprising was successful in overthrowing the regional government largely due to Karelin's leadership. Within weeks, all of South Zagoria would fall under ChDKZ control. Lopotev would soon announce his intention to integrate the province into the Russian Federation. All that was left now was to wait for the Kremlin to act.

However, the Kremlin was still reluctant to intervene directly or outright back Lopotev's announcement. It didn't help that the U.S. government was also meddling in the crisis, and would soon be invading South Zagoria in support of the Chernarussian government.

As the American-backed offensive allowed the Chernarussians to reclaim territory, time was running out for Karelin. The ChDKZ were losing ground rapidly and Bardak had also been captured. Left with no choice, Karelin initiated "Operation Cobalt", a plan to have ChDKZ operatives carry out a terrorist attack in the heart of the capital's Red Square. Chernarussian extremists would be blamed for the attack, and force the Kremlin to intervene in the crisis.

Operation Cobalt succeeds and two hundred Russians are killed in the attack with countless more being injured. The Americans are forced to withdraw from South Zagoria, and the Chernarussians are to relinquish retaken territory back into the hands of the ChDKZ.

However, Karelin had also received ill-news that "Spukayev", one of the ChDKZ operatives involved in Operation Cobalt, was planning to betray the organisation and reveal the truth behind the bombing. Two American Force Reconnaissance teams, Razor and Sabre, were looking into the man's case; he had to stop them before they could manage to extract Spukayev. Karelin knew the identity of one of the Marines, Matthew Cooper, but was unable to track him down just yet.

Karelin's team bided their time and waited for Sabre to bring back Spukayev to their camp. Once Spukayev was in place, Karelin's team struck it with full force and in a single stroke, annihilated the traitor and most of Sabre with mortars and gunfire. Only a handful of survivors were left now. Karelin interrogated them one-by-one and demanded to know where Cooper was hiding. They refused to answer him. In exchange, Karelin cut their throats.

Karelin continued to focus on supporting the ChDKZ by helping them to track down NAPA extremists wherever possible. However, Razor Team was still on the run and so as long as they remained alive, they were a loose end that could jeopardise everything.

Death

Lopotev is eventually captured by the Americans. To make matters worse, his contacts in the Kremlin revealed that a secret deal would be taking place. In exchange for both Lopotev and his testimony over the ChDKZ's involvement in Operation Cobalt, the Russian military would withdraw from South Zagoria and abandon the ChDKZ to its fate.

Karelin couldn't let that happen, even if he had to kill Russian soldiers to save Lopotev. He personally led his team to the exchange point just south of the Vybor airbase. Once his team was in place, Karelin commenced the attack.

However, in the fierce but brief firefight that followed, his team and even Karelin himself were killed. The Russian commander had also managed to flee with Lopotev.

«

Razor Team! Come, look at this. Your man is correct, they were Spetsnaz.. The Russian officer identifies Karelin's corpse

»

His identity is visually confirmed by one of the Russian officers who remained behind at the scene. The officer quickly relays information of the rogue Spetsnaz operative's involvement in the Red Square bombing and conspiracy back to the Russian government.

Combined with the evidence gathered by Razor Team, this eventually culminates in the Russian military's withdrawal from the country and the final destruction of the ChDKZ, putting an end to Karelin's conspiracy once and for all.

Personality and Appearance

Karelin appears as a blond-haired, middle-aged Slavic male who wears the standard gear of a Spetsnaz officer, complete with a red beret, Kora-Kulon body armour vest, and a Gorka mountain suit.

Not much is known about Karelin himself, save for his obvious extremist goal of bringing Russia back to the glory of its Soviet days. He is stated to have a brutal, almost borderline delusional personality, and will unhesitatingly eliminate anyone whom he deems expendable or getting in the way of his plans, regardless of whether they are Americans, Chernarussians, or even his own countrymen.

«

Some blond bastard named Karelin was in charge. He was a madman! Kept raving about Lopotev being too soft! He was just about to knife us all in cold blood when you attacked the city! Karelin's involvement is confirmed at last by the NAPA guerillas after Novy Sobor's liberation

»

This is particularly evident by how he coldly executes every single one of the remaining Force Recon Marines from Sabre Team one by one with a knife when they refused to tell him the whereabouts of Razor Team. Or by how he tortured NAPA collaborators in order to punish them for supporting the guerillas. Even during the final ambush to save Lopotev, he guns down Shagarov's personal detail without hesitation.

All of this eventually leads to his own downfall, however. Ironically, it brings about the one conclusion that he didn't want to see happen: Chernarus moving away from Russia's sphere of influence and becoming firmly pro-West.

Trivia

• It is never specified as to whether "Karelin" is merely his operating codename or is a part of his real name.
  • Internally, he does have what appears to be a real name and is called "Ivan Nikolayevich". However, since this is never actually mentioned in-game, whether or not this is his canonical real name remains unclear.
• Karelin is one of the few antagonists throughout the entire series that lacks a speaking role despite being behind most of the campaign's events.
  • In spite of being mentioned continuously both by name and appearance throughout Harvest Red, his first and only physical appearance is in the latter stages of the final mission for the campaign. Even then, the player will most likely only catch a glimpse of his corpse - assuming that they manage to locate it amongst the corpses of the other Spetsnaz team members.

Gallery

Karelin's full figure.

See also

• Gregori Lopotev