Lev Kravchenko

"You again... I should have killed you in Vorkuta..."

- Lev Kravchenko to Alex Mason in "Payback", before his death.

Soviet Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Russian: 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 (seen by Mason as Viktor Reznov) 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 (seen as Reznov) tackles Kravchenko out of his office window, apparently sacrificing himself to save Mason. A huge explosion is seen and heard and the player assumes that both Woods (Reznov) and Kravchenko are dead. Kravchenko is voiced by Andrew Divoff.

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

Trivia

 * 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 Reise.
 * According to this, there is a possibility that Nikolai Belinksi is Kravchenko's cousin, as Nikolai's complete name is unknown
 * 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.
 * They could be talking about the real Der Riese in Poland.
 * 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 (though only Mikhail would succeed).
 * 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.
 * 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).
 * 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."
 * Dragovich and Kravchenko also could be close friends.
 * 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".
 * Other than in the level "Project Nova" Kravchenko bears an uncanny resemblance to Imran Zakhaev from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 * 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. It can be assumed that the glass was bulletproof.
 * Kravchenko is physically seen in 6 missions: Operation 40, Executive Order, Project Nova, Crash Site, Payback and Revelations.
 * 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.
 * Kravchenko kicks Mason in the face in three separate missions, once in Crash Site and in Operation 40, and several times in the mission Payback.
 * 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.
 * He is a sadist, as in Operation 40, Crash Site, and Payback, he kicks Mason in the face, total amount, nine times, takes a knife to Weaver, and he is the executor of the German POW's in Project Nova.

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.