Victor Zakhaev (Original)

"Shit, kid's got some issues."

- Griggs, after Victor committed suicide

Victor Zakhaev is the son of Imran Zakhaev and field commander of the Russian Ultranationalists. His relationship to his father is apparently very close and it can be assumed they share the same ideals, mainly of Russia returning to Communism and a Soviet-style government. He is easily recognizable by his blue-striped tracksuit. In the game, he is also referred to as one of the Four Horsemen.

In Game
Victor is present in the unnamed Middle-Eastern country during the execution of President Al-Fulani, riding along with him in the car that delivers him to the presidential palace and his eventual death, directing the driver and holding his favorite weapon; a Mini-UZI.

After the death of Al-Asad at the hands of Cpt. Price, Imran Zakhaev goes into hiding. Despite this, his son continues to directly lead the Ultranationalist forces in Russia. He becomes the subject of a manhunt and eventual pursuit by a combined Loyalist/S.A.S/U.S.M.C task force during the level Sins of the Father. He is chased through an abandoned town in Russia and soon cornered in a five-story building. However even when he can't escape he moves at the final floor of the building. The S.A.S. and the U.S. forces block him. He doesn't surrender even when he is told to put down the weapon. When S.A.S operative "Soap" MacTavish moves to take his weapon, Victor commits suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. It is possible to take Victor's M1911 with which he kills himself with as a trophy.

Victor's death deeply affects Imran, who takes over an ICBM Missile Silo in the Altay Mountains and launches two ICBMs at the United States' East Coast in retaliation. He also laments in an ultimatum to British and U.S forces that "Our blood has been spilled on our Soil. My blood... on their hands... They are the invaders...", in a trembling, angry voice.

Trivia

 * Victor looks like he commits suicide with an M1911, but the gun audio is actually that of a Desert Eagle if one speeds up the suicide by 2x.
 * Victor could be based on Pietrovitch from the movie Behind Enemy Lines (picture below). In the DS version, Victor's name is replaced with Ivan Petrovitch, more credit to this theory.
 * Victor also bears an uncanny resemblance to the character Niko from Grand Theft Auto IV. This may be because they are both of Eastern European descent.
 * Victor's name is inaccurate, as he is depicted as a Russian. Russian's variation of "Victor" is "Viktor" (Виктор).
 * In the final part of "The Sins of The Father" if you don't walk to Victor when Cpt. Price tells you about 5 seconds later he says something in Russian then shoots himself. The thing Victor said translated to English is, "You're all going to die anyway!".
 * If you are using the "A Bad Year" cheat, his body will explode into tires after he shoots himself.
 * If you shoot him through the glass when Gaz says" Drop the bloody gun! Now drop it!" it will count as a mission failed.
 * Shooting Victor's gun has no effect, neither knocking it out of his hand nor counting as a mission failed because you didn't hit him
 * The Spetznaz announcer could be Victor, although the announcer's voice sounds like Sgt. Kamarov, it is more likely to be Victor as he was the commander of the ground forces.
 * When you are recovering from the tower fall, you see Victor and he dosen't seem to see you. He could easily have killed Soap at that point.