Lev Kravchenko

"Dragovich's second in command, Kravchenko, tested it in Vietnam. On them, on us, on his own. He didn't care!"

- Alex Mason on Nova 6.

Soviet Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Ukrainian: Лев Кравченко) is the secondary antagonist in Call of Duty: Black Ops. He is Dragovich's second in command, and he is the reason why the SOG were deployed to Vietnam.

In any other regime, Colonel Kravchenko would be locked away, if not executed. Often referred to as Dragovich's lap dog, Kravchenko is a cold-hearted sadist made of pure evil. Staying mostly silent, he carries out his master's orders without question. A rumor originating from his village outside of Leningrad tells of Kravchenko's mutilation and murder of his sister Irina, who spurned the romantic advances of his mentor, Dragovich. This act of loyalty, as the rumor goes, led directly to his commission as an officer under Dragovich's command.

Much like Dragovich, Kravchenko detests Viktor Reznov. His reasons however, are much more mundane than those of Dragovich: Kravchenko takes his lead wholly from his General.

Kravchenko is a powerful figure of a man, built for war. He is a ruthless and amoral military officer, and must fulfill his blood-lust no matter the cost. He is aggressive and impatient but not vengeful. He does not see past his next action, and therefore will always be a weapon of war, and not an orchestrator. Kravchenko enjoys the suffering of others; it is one of the few things that can incite anything resembling a human feeling inside the man.

Kravchenko is killed in Payback when Woods stabs Kravchenko before he is about to kill Mason. On his last breath, Kravchenko says "You will die with me!" before pulling a string attached to all the grenades on his belt. Thinking fast, Woods tackles Kravchenko out of his office window, apparently sacrificing himself to save Mason. A huge explosion is seen and heard and the player should assume that both Woods and Kravchenko are dead. Kravchenko is voiced by Andrew Divoff.

1945
At the end of World War II, Kravchenko and Dragovich seized a Nazi base in the Arctic to rescue a Nazi scientist (Steiner) and have him give Dragovich a weapon of mass destruction called Nova 6. Viktor Reznov and Dimitri Petrenko (World at War main protagonist's) found him and found the ship with Nova 6, but Kravchenko and Dragovich betrayed the other Red army soldiers and murdered Dimitri and almost killed Reznov, but they did not get their hands on Nova 6. Reznov was taken to Vorkuta by Kravchenko shortly after.

1961
Kravchenko made his first apperance in Operation 40. He captured Alex Mason after a failed atempt to kill Castro. It was revealed that Castro was alive and that Dragovich and Castro had joined forces. Kravchenko took Mason to Vorkuta were he would spend the next 2 years.

1963
After Viktor Reznov gave his life to have mason escape in a big prison break, Kravchenko was most likely the one who killed him as there is a strong rivalry shown as Dragovich says to put aside their petty rivalry. Later Dragovich attempted to launch missiles at the U.S. The CIA had a double with them called Weaver but Kravchenko discoverd him and stabbed his left eye. Kravchenko escaped before Mason, Woods, Bowman, Weaver and Brooks could get to him.

1968
5 years later Dragovich also joined forces with the Vietnam NVA. The SOG tried to find Kravchenko while the CIA searched for Dragovich and Steiner, but were captured. Kravchenko meet his end when Mason and Woods attacked him. Woods stabbed him but Lev pulled a grenade around his neck, and Woods was forced to push Lev out off the cliff were he exploded and killed himself along with Woods.

His last words were "You will die with me" to Woods.

Gallery
thumb|300px|right|Young Kravchenko in the mission "Project Nova"

Trivia
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 * Kravchenko does not wear any type of headwear in the game, not even in the arctic during the mission "Project Nova". On the Wii version, Kravchenko does wear a hat in "Project Nova".
 * Unlockable intel states that a cousin of Kravchenko took part in a massacre at Der Riese. This suggests that the four main characters were rescued by Soviet troops. However, they probably teleported into the future before the Soviets arrived at Der Riese.
 * Referring to the above, the intel also mentioned that American soldiers went to the factory too, resulting in a standoff with Soviet troops. It is possible that they were passing by Der Riese, and they saw the Russians executing what they thought were unarmed civilians(the zombies) and attempted to stop them.
 * Andrew Divoff, the voice over of Kravchenko, acted in the series "Lost" as a Mikhail Bakunin, a former Soviet communique/medical officer who served in the SAF before being recruited by "the Others". Besides the fact Bakunin was a Soviet soldier, he dies in a similar fashion to Kravchenko: both are pierced by a blade/blade-like object (Kravchenko a knife, Mikhail a spear), and both attempt to take one of the protagonists with them to their deaths by pulling the pin on grenades, attempting to take the intended target with them to their graves.
 * Andrew Divoff had previously acted with Gary Oldman (the voice over of Reznov) in Air Force One as a similar Russian villain and one of Oldman's character's henchmen who gets his neck snapped during a brawl by Harrison Ford's character.
 * It could be possible that Divoff was picked to voice Krachenko due to his reputation for playing villains, specifically Russian villains such as a henchman in Air Force One and another henchman in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (which the film was also set during the Cold War just like the game Black Ops).
 * He also seems to be modeled after his voice actor Divoff, as Divoff's hair during the time was balding like Kravchenko's hair style in the game.
 * The character could also be an expansion of Divoff's terrorist henchman role in Air Force One.
 * In the level ' Victor Charlie ', Mason said ' General Kravchenko ' despite his rank to be a Colonel.
 * During the Project Nova mission after you meet Steiner,and you are walking to the large boat,you can look to your right and see Kravchenko executing soldiers,when he gets to the last soldier his pistol magazine runs out and instead he slits the soldier's throat.
 * In the mission Rebirth it appears as though Mason/Reznov is wearing Kravchenko's clothing.
 * It seems that Kravchenko is always loyal to Dragovich, because they have been together since WWII, and Reznov says to Dimitri in "Project Nova:" "Dragovich and his lap dog Kravchenko."
 * According to the intel unlockable in mission "Crash Site", Kravchenko, under the orders of Dragovich, used the villages in the border regions at Laos for field-testing the Nova 6, and after the tests littered the site with dead SOG operatives to make the carnage on civilian lives were the work of Americans.
 * Intel during cutscenes states that Kravchenko is 6'0, an inch taller than Mason and Reznov, and 220 pounds, and a "stocky" build.
 * Kravchenko has stepped on Mason 9 times: Once in the endings of "Crash Site" and "Operation 40" and seven times near the end of "Payback".
 * Kravchenko almost kills Mason in "Payback" solely by punching and kicking him. When he is finished, there is blood on your screen as if shot on Veteran difficulty.
 * Kravchenko cannot be killed through the glass no matter how many times the player shoots at it.
 * Kravchenko is physically seen in 5 missions: Operation 40, Executive Order, Project Nova, Crash Site, Payback.
 * Apparently, Kravchenko and Reznov have a small war rivalry as in the beginning of Project Nova, Dragovich tells Kravchenko to put aside his petty rivalry while he is speaking to Reznov.
 * Before the game was released, Kravchenko originally was thought to be the main antagonist and was going to be voiced by MMA fighter and Predators actor Oleg Taktarov (who had also acted along side Gary Oldman (the voice over for Reznov) and Andrew Divoff (the voice over for Kravchenko) in a small role in Air Force One). But this was before Dragovich existed in the game. Also, Taktarov probably turned it down after he just recently played an optimistically portrayed Spetznaz operative in Predators and would not play a negatively portrayed evil one in this game.
 * His dossier profile name include the numbers 666, 666 is considered the Devil's number.
 * His name suggests that he is of Ukrainian descen; "Lev" means "lion" in Ukrainian and "Kravchenko" means "tailor" (the equivalent of "tailor" in the English-speaking world and an occupational surname).
 * While punching Woods, Kravchenko is noticeably bigger and chunkier than Woods, despite both being 6'0.

Quotes
"Ah, the hero of Berlin graces us with his presence. Have you not tired of battle, Reznov?"

- Kravchenko to Reznov in Project Nova.

"You will die with me!"

- Kravchenko before his fiery death in Payback.

"Not this time American."

- Kravchenko before brutally kicking Mason in Payback.

"Your colleague is unwilling to explain his presence in this facility."

- Kravchenko's first line in the game in the mission Executive Order.

"Surrender now... And you will be allowed to live."

- Kravchenko's reply to Woods after Woods asked who it was talking to him.

"This is your only warning."

- Kravchenko to Woods and Mason that was thinking what they were going to do to save Weaver.

"Your choice."

- Kravchenko before stabbing Weaver in the eye.