Yuri (Modern Warfare)

"I was young, and patriotic when I first met Vladimir Makarov."

- Yuri in Blood Brothers

Yuri (Russian: Юрий) was a Russian protagonist and playable character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. He was an ex-Spetsnaz operative who served in Nikolai's Loyalist Army, and was considered to be Nikolai's best man. He played an important role during the Ultranationalist crisis before, during, and after the third World War.

Early Life
Not much was known about Yuri until the revelations of Blood Brothers. Yuri served in the Spetsnaz and was considered to be "young and patriotic" during the 1990s. His idealism caught the interest of Imran Zakhaev and Vladimir Makarov, eventually befriending the latter. Yuri served in the Ultranationalist party primarily escorting Makarov throughout the crisis. During One Shot, One Kill, Yuri and Makarov were in one of the vehicles during the exchange with Zakhaev after John Price's assassination attempt in Pripyat, Ukraine. He and Makarov helped escort Zakhaev after his arm was dismembered. During the events of Shock and Awe, Yuri was present standing next to Makarov when he detonated the nuclear device in the Middle East. However, the events Yuri had experienced made him uneasy about his affiliation with the Ultranationalists.

No Russian
When Yuri had learned of Makarov's plans to conduct a massacre at the Airport, Yuri had attempted to stop it, possibly assisting Joseph Allen's undercover operation. However, Makarov had learned of Yuri's betrayal and shoots him in the process, leaving him for dead. A wounded Yuri attempts to pursue Makarov's team and intervene, but passes out from blood loss, being treated by paramedics that arrived on the scene. This event alone drove Yuri to have a strong hatred of Makarov until the fateful day he would aid John Price and John "Soap" MacTavish.

Pursuing Makarov
Starting from the events of Persona Non Grata, Yuri was introduced to Price under dangerous circumstances. Soap was wounded and needed evacuation from the safehouse in India. Yuri aids Price and Nikolai in treating Soap's injuries, as well as facilitating their extraction out of the country. Having knowledge of Makarov's patterns, but not revealing his true nature to the pair, Yuri would point out possible locations Makarov would go to, mainly the location of Makarov's arms deals in Sierra Leone, as well as speculating Makarov's security detail. Yuri helped facilitate the relaying of intelligence acquired from his missions with Soap and Price to their allies until getting their lead on his location in Prague.

Revelations
Acting on intelligence given by Team Metal, Price, Soap,Yuri, and Kamarov organize a local resistance to facilitate their infiltration for Hotel Lustig. Yuri spent the majority of the mission partnered up with Soap, providing support for Price in the cover of a church overlooking the Hotel Lustig. However, the assassination mission goes south, with Makarov having suspected Yuri's presence (mainly because Soap saw Makarov looking right at him) and detonating bombs on Price, Soap, and Yuri. Soap pushes Yuri out of a window to save him, and Soap caught on to Makarov's knowledge of Yuri. Yuri aids Price in rushing Soap to a nearby safehouse, only for Soap to reveal Makarov's knowledge of Yuri to Price seconds before his death. Enraged, Price punches Yuri down a flight of stairs, where Yuri reveals his former allegiance to the Ultranationalists until the events of No Russian. Convinced of his regret, Price reluctantly keeps his alliance with Yuri.

Redemption
Yuri gives Price the location of a potential headquarters located in a fortress in Prague. However, during their infiltration, they instead find intelligence that Makarov's men found Boris Vorshevsky's daughter in Berlin. The pair relay the intelligence to Team Metal shortly after the base's destruction. Despite Team Metal's efforts, the daughter was kidnapped and tracked to a diamond mine in Siberia during Down the Rabbit Hole. At this point, Price and Yuri conduct a joint operation with Team Metal in saving the Vorshevskys. They are successful in the extraction, but Team Metal perishes in the process from the collapsing of a mine, facilitating a wounded Yuri's extraction. Despite this, Yuri and Price's efforts have ensured peace talks between the United States and Russia.

Despite the end of the war, Yuri accompanies Price in the Arabian Peninsula after having successfully tracked down Makarov in the Hotel Oasis. Yuri gets wounded by a piece of rebar when an airstrike obliterates part of the hotel, telling Price to continue the mission without him. Yuri manages to free himself and is barely lucky in saving Price from Makarov's execution. However, Yuri is shot repeatedly in the chest and head by his former friend, buying Price much needed time to kill Makarov.

Trivia

 * He is one of the few playable characters in the Modern Warfare series to have a visible body. Others include Soap, Burns, Captain Price, and Frost.
 * In Persona Non Grata when the player takes control of the UGV, the player can see Yuri on the laptop. The model for Yuri is not the one seen in Dust to Dust, but is instead Kamarov from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 * In Persona Non Grata, Yuri is seen wearing Russian winter gear even though the team is in India.
 * He is the third playable character to be heavily tatooed, the first beingJoseph Allen, and the second being Danny Trejo from Zombies.
 * Yuri is the seventh playable character that is scripted to die, however like Soap and Dimitri Petrenko from World at War, he dies while he is not playable.
 * Yuri only speaks during cutscenes when he is a playable character.
 * Yuri seems to have a similar personality to Viktor Reznov, Yuri notes that he was a soldier of Russia and does not kill the lives of the innocent, said during his revelations.
 * Yuri and Andrei Harkov are the only Russian playable characters in the Modern Warfare series.
 * The concept art version of Yuri resembles actor Stephen Lang.

Quotes
"I was young and patriotic when I first met Vladimir Makarov."

- At the start of Yuri's revelations

"This suit armor will protect us."

- Yuri to Price in the beginning of the level Dust to Dust