Nikolai Krukov
Actor: Andrew Divoff
Name: Nikolai Krukov*Nationality:* Soviet*Affiliation:* Soviet Union*Rank in the old timeline:* Lieutenant General*Rank in the new timeline:* Marshal of the Soviet Union*Position:* Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces*Superior:* Anatoly Cherdenko*Allies:* Gregor Zelinsky, Dasha Fedorovich, Oleg Vodnik, Soviet Commander*Enemies:* Allied Forces, Empire of the Rising Sun*Conflict:* Third World War*Game:* Red Alert 3
Fate: Imprisoned in the Allied campaign; killed in the Soviet and Imperial campaigns.Nikolai Krukov is one of the Soviet Union’s most senior military officials and Chief of the General Staff of its armed forces during the Third World War. An extremely experienced General, yet also arrogant, brutal and jealous of his prestige, he plays a fundamental role in the creation of the Red Alert 3 timeline.
Indeed, Krukov is one of three men-along with Anatoly Cherdenko and Gregor Zelinsky-who travel back in time to 1927 to eliminate Albert Einstein and thus prevent the development of the technologies that enabled the Allies to defeat the Soviet Union.
The Soviet defeat in the original Continuum
Before the alteration of the Continuum, the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse.
The Allied Forces had all but won the war and the Soviet Premier had fled. Krukov held the rank of Lieutenant General at the time and was in command of Anatoly Cherdenko.
Cherdenko, however, reveals to his superior the existence of an extremely secret project under the supervision of the scientist Gregor Zelinsky: a time-travelling machine.
For the Soviet leaders, this invention represents their last chance.
Krukov therefore accompanies Cherdenko and Zelinsky into the past.
The Elimination of Albert Einstein
The three Soviets travel back to 1927, to the time of the Solvay Congress.
Their target is Albert Einstein.
In this timeline, the scientist’s work has provided the Allies with several crucial technologies and contributed to the defeat of the Soviet Union. Cherdenko therefore decides to remove Einstein from history before he can develop these inventions.
Having completed their mission, Krukov, Cherdenko and Zelinsky return to their own time.
The world has changed radically.
The Allies have lost much of their technological advantage and the Red Army is now on the verge of conquering Western Europe. But their intervention in time has also produced a completely unforeseen consequence: the emergence of the Empire of the Rising Sun, which has become a third, technologically highly advanced global superpower.
Krukov also discovers a much more personal change.
In this new reality, Cherdenko is no longer his subordinate: he has become Premier of the Soviet Union, whilst Krukov is now Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Soviet Chief of the General Staff
Krukov nevertheless retains an extremely important position.
As Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces, he directs a large part of military operations and wields considerable authority over field commanders.
He is convinced that he is one of the greatest strategists of the Soviet Union.
This conviction is also his greatest flaw.
Krukov finds it hard to accept that other Officers receive more recognition than he does and is particularly contemptuous of young Commanders. His relationship with the Soviet Commander therefore quickly becomes strained.
The invasion of Great Britain
At the start of the new Third World War, the Soviets had almost entirely driven the Allies out of continental Europe.
Krukov intends to capitalise on this superiority by launching an invasion of Great Britain.
The Soviets attempt to establish a beachhead at Brighton Beach, but Robert Bingham dispatches the Allied Commander and Giles Price to defend the British coastline.
The operation fails and Krukov’s forces are repelled.
This defeat is one of the first signs that the Soviet advance is no longer unstoppable.
The Empire’s invasion of the Soviet Union
The situation changes completely when the Empire of the Rising Sun launches a surprise attack on the Soviet Union.
Ironically, Krukov, Cherdenko and Zelinsky are themselves responsible for the existence of this new power, an indirect consequence of their journey through time.
The Red Army is then forced to fight both the Allied Forces in the west and the Imperial forces in the east simultaneously.
During the Soviet campaign, Krukov oversees several operations entrusted to the new Soviet Commander. However, it is not long before he begins to view the latter’s successes with jealousy.
The Attack on Geneva
Having repelled the Japanese, the Soviets resume their offensive against the Allies.
Krukov takes part, in particular, in the assault on their headquarters in Geneva, alongside the Soviet Commander and Oleg Vodnik.
The objective is to destroy the Allies’ main facilities: their supply port, their military base and their Command Hub.
Krukov behaves with particular arrogance during the battle and readily takes credit for the successes achieved by the Red Army.
When Geneva falls, he practically presents the victory as the result of his own military genius, further intensifying his rivalry with the Commander.
Rivalry with the Soviet Commander
The relationship between Krukov and the Commander gradually becomes one of the main internal conflicts within the Soviet high command.
Krukov finds it difficult to acknowledge his subordinate’s abilities.
The more victories the Commander racks up, the more aggressive and condescending the General becomes towards him. He regularly seeks to remind him of his seniority and his position in the hierarchy.
But the real danger ultimately does not come from the Commander.
It comes from Cherdenko.
Cherdenko’s plot
The Soviet Premier gradually becomes increasingly suspicious of Krukov.
The two men are the only major political figures, alongside Zelinsky, to know the true origin of the new chronology.
Above all, Krukov remains an extremely powerful military figure with considerable influence over the Red Army.
Cherdenko therefore decides to get rid of him.
In the Soviet countryside, he stages a fake assassination attempt on his own person and has Krukov accused of attempting to murder him.
Krukov is, however, innocent.
Cherdenko then orders the Soviet Commander and Oleg Vodnik to eliminate him for treason.
‘No traitors tomorrow’
Krukov barricades himself inside a fortified Soviet base and, naturally, refuses to surrender.
He commands his forces from a VIP pillbox, a building specially designed to protect senior Soviet military officials.
Furious, he now regards the Commander as a traitor and vows that he will pay for turning his weapons against a superior Officer.
The battle thus turns into a full-blown civil war within the Red Army.
The Commander’s and Oleg’s forces attack Krukov’s positions, whilst the Allies also attempt to capitalise on the Soviet chaos. In particular, an Allied Proton Collider is deployed during the fighting.
Despite his defences, Krukov is ultimately defeated.
His VIP Pillbox is destroyed and Nikolai Krukov is killed. His troops immediately surrender to the Soviet Commander.
It is only later that Dasha discovers the truth: Krukov had never attempted to assassinate Cherdenko. The Premier had fabricated the whole affair in order to eliminate his former comrade.
In the Soviet campaign, Krukov therefore dies as the victim of a political purge orchestrated by the man he himself had helped to rewrite history.
Allied Campaign
The Allied campaign holds a very different fate in store for him.
Krukov remains loyal to Cherdenko and continues to serve the Soviet government.
When the Empire of the Rising Sun becomes a global threat, the Soviets and the Allies temporarily form an alliance against their common enemy.
Krukov is therefore forced to fight alongside those he had, until recently, sought to destroy.
The Offensive against Tokyo
During the Allied assault on Tokyo, Krukov is supposed to provide Soviet naval support.
But when the operation begins, he informs the Allied Commander that his fleet will not arrive in time to play a meaningful part in the battle.
He even mocks the Allies, suggesting that if they succeed despite the Soviets’ absence, the victory will truly belong to them.
Against all expectations, the Allied Commander and Lissette Hanley manage to defeat the Imperial forces without his help.
This Soviet absence is not entirely innocent.
Krukov is, in fact, aware of Cherdenko’s true intentions.
The Final Soviet Betrayal
Once the Empire has been defeated, Cherdenko breaks the alliance and resumes the war against the Allied Forces.
Krukov remains at his side.
In particular, he is aware of the Soviet plan being prepared at a secret facility in Cuba, intended to deal a devastating blow to the Allies.
Following the failure of this strategy, the remaining Soviet leaders retreat to Leningrad.
Krukov has, in particular, a vacuum imploder at his disposal there, whilst Cherdenko prepares his escape.
The Allies finally take the city and destroy the last Soviet defences.
This time, Krukov does not die.Krukov and Cherdenko are captured by the Allied Forces and imprisoned in a cryogenic prison for crimes against humanity. This outcome marks the end of the Allied campaign.
Imperial Campaign
The campaign of the Empire of the Rising Sun offers a third outcome.
Krukov naturally becomes one of the Japanese’s main adversaries during their invasion of the Soviet Union.
In particular, Crown Prince Tatsu orders the Imperial Commander to eliminate him using the gigantic Shogun Executioner.
Krukov, however, manages to escape before his headquarters is destroyed.
He then returns during the joint Soviet-Allied offensive against Yokohama.
In this timeline, the Japanese advance forces the two former enemies to cooperate. Krukov therefore fights alongside Lissette Hanley against the Imperial forces.
The offensive fails and Krukov once again manages to retreat.
Krukov’s death at the Kremlin
His luck eventually runs out, however.
When the Imperial forces launch a direct attack on the Kremlin, Krukov returns to take part in the defence of Moscow.
The Imperial Commander manages to crush the last remaining Soviet forces.
Part of the Kremlin collapses and Nikolai Krukov is mortally wounded. Right up until his final moments, he refused to accept that he could have been defeated by the Japanese.
In the Imperial campaign, he thus died defending the very heart of the Soviet Union.