Nikolai (Modern Warfare)

"Da - I know a place."

- Nikolai responding to Price at the end of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. "Nikolai" (Russian: Николай) is the code name of a Russian informant amongst Imran Zakhaev's Ultranationalists, and an ally of the SAS in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He continues to help MacTavish and Price in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. His real birth name has not yet been revealed.

Cold War
Nikolai is a former Soviet Army Senior Sergeant from an anti-tank rifle unit.

Nikolai is also a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan War. He was also a pilot as it was mentioned in "The Enemy of My Enemy" in Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
In events before the mission "Blackout", Nikolai has been detained by the Ultranationalists under suspicion of espionage. The SAS team under Captain Price must find and rescue him before he is executed. He had been informing the British from the Ultranationalist camp until his cover was blown. He helped to start the entire chain of events in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as it was he that supplied the intel for the cargo ship mission.

In "Hunted", the Black Hawk carrying the extracted team is shot down over hostile territory, and he is forced to fight alongside the team with only the AK-74u he has been found with. Finally, under cover of AC-130 fire, Nikolai is evacuated by a second helicopter to a safe house in Hamburg, and his last mention in the game is a loading cutscene in which he sends the SAS the coordinates to Khaled Al-Asad's safehouse in Azerbaijan.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nikolai plays a bigger role in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 than in its precursor, and he is quite adept at flying and driving multiple vehicles, though it is unknown how he has acquired them. He appears to be a mercenary pilot.

In "The Hornet's Nest", the stranded Task Force 141 team is left without a helicopter, since the U.S. has been barred from entering Brazilian airspace and the Russian invasion of the United States has overwhelmed civilian communications. Captain John "Soap" MacTavish calls Nikolai to come rescue the team. Nikolai arrives in a Pave Low, but heavy RPG fire makes the landing zone "too hot", or dangerous. Soap orders Nikolai to wave off, as the team should be able find a secondary extraction point. Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, when running and keeping up with the Task Force, falls from the rooftops, further delaying the exit. Roach quickly rushes throughout the favela, evading enemy forces, reaching the rooftops, and making it to the helicopter.

In "The Enemy of My Enemy", Nikolai extracts Price and Soap from the Boneyard under fire in a C-130 Hercules as Price and Soap drive their jeep into the cargo hold of the plane. Nikolai then drops off Price and Soap at Site Hotel Bravo in "Just Like Old Times," but despite having been told that it was a one-way flight, he returns to rescue the two in "Endgame" with a Little Bird. The last sentence he says is "Da, I know a place." The place he is referring to is a safe-house in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Nikolai is almost always alongside Yuri and the disavowed Task Force 141, ready to help when needed. In the introduction of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, he and Price carry an injured Soap to the helicopter with Yuri. He also provides remote air support during the mission to capture Waraabe in Somalia. His Hind is shot down during the extraction and he has to be rescued from the Somali Militia during a blackout sandstorm. During a raid at Karlstejn near Prague, Nikolai seems to have deployed Yuri and Price and later extracts them after informing Delta Force about Makarov's hunt for Alena Vorshevsky. In the mission "Dust to Dust", Nikolai provides support and recon for Price and Yuri as they make their way through the hotel on a mission to kill Makarov.

Before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

 * Afghanistan — Took part in the Soviet-Afghan War.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

 * Caucasus Mountains — Rescued by Captain Price's Bravo Team.
 * Western Russia — Shot down but evacuated to Hamburg.
 * Hamburg — From this location during a cutscene, he gives Bravo Team the coordinates to Al-Asad's safehouse in Northern Azerbaijan.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * Rio De Janeiro, Brazil — Evacuated Soap's team in a Pave Low.
 * Kandahar, Afghanistan — Rescued Soap and Price from the Bone yard.
 * Site Hotel Bravo, Afghanistan — Rescues a heavily wounded MacTavish and Price and takes them to a "secret place".

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

 * Himachal Pradesh, India — Takes Price and a wounded MacTavish to the safehouse.
 * Boosaaso, Somalia — Provides helicopter support while searching for Waraabe and shot down before subsequently escaping the sandstorm.
 * Arabian Peninsula — Drops Price and Yuri to kill Makarov in Hotel Oasis. Provides play-by-play as to Makarov's location within the hotel.

Trivia

 * Nikolai stands at 188 centimeters, as mentioned in "Blackout".
 * He is not featured in the "Museum" even though his Pave Low is.
 * In "The Enemy of My Enemy", Nikolai is heard yelling in Russian, directed at Shadow Company or the mercenaries attempting to shoot him down. (He says: "Вот дерьмо! Нет, мне явно недоплачивают за эту работу! Одни ракеты сколько стоят! Твою мать! Пизда!!"; (trans. "Holy shit! No, really, I'm not paid enough for this job! The missiles alone cost so much! Holy shit! Fuck!")
 * Nikolai knows Arabic, as he hacked into the Hotel Oasis's security at the Arabian Peninsula.
 * "Endgame" is the only Modern Warfare 2 mission in which Nikolai physically appears. In other missions he is only heard over the comms or piloting aircraft.
 * If you look closely at the plane's cockpit in "The Enemy of My Enemy", you will see that no one is actually piloting Nikolai's plane.
 * During the "Blackout" cutscene, one can see pictures of Nikolai with an AK-47 (which he never wields) in "F.N.G", and him crouching near the crashed UH-60 equipped with a Minigun on "Heat".
 * Nikolai is one of three known characters to survive each Modern Warfare game, the others being Price and Overlord.
 * In the end of "Endgame", he wears a pilot uniform; but in the beginning of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 mission "Persona Non Grata", he wears a combat uniform even though the level takes place just hours after the end of "Endgame".
 * Nikolai is a very skilled pilot and is able to acquire several aircraft over the course of the Modern Warfare series.
 * He's been shot down twice (first time in "Hunted" after being rescued); "Return to Sender" was the first time he was shot down while piloting a helicopter.
 * Nikolai never refers to Soap as such during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, instead calling him "my friend".
 * Nikolai is shot and killed by Makarov in the end of the MW3 campaign in an effort to save Price.

Appearances

 * Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (First appearance)
 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3