Nikolai Moskvin
Actor: Gene Farber
Name: Nikolai Moskvin*Russian name:* Николай Москвин*Nationality:* Soviet*Affiliation:* Soviet Union*Rank:* General*Role:* Commander*Speciality:* Experimental forces, aggressive attacks and Tesla technologies*Allies:* Soviet Commander, Oleg Vodnik*Enemies:* Allied Forces, Empire of the Rising Sun, FutureTech*Conflicts:* Third World War, Uprising*Games:* Red Alert 3, Red Alert 3: Uprising
Status: Alive during the events of Uprising.
Nikolai Moskvin is a general and Commander in the Red Army during the Third World War.
Young but exceptionally gifted, Moskvin is best known for two traits: his use of extremely aggressive tactics and his deeply unstable temperament. Even within the Red Army, he has a reputation for being a sadistic and unpredictable Commander.
The son of a Soviet scientist
Moskvin is the son of a minister or senior official in the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Experimental Sciences.
This background appears to have played a part in his military career path.
Rather than pursuing a conventional career, Nikolai specialises in the Red Army’s experimental weapons and training programmes. He notably distinguishes himself within one of the most important regiments of Soviet Tesla Troopers.
His methods are particularly brutal.
Moskvin employs unorthodox, aggressive and often unpredictable tactics. Yet they prove effective enough to attract the attention of the high command.
When the Third World War breaks out, he is eventually placed at the head of the Soviet Union’s experimental forces.
A particularly volatile commander
Moskvin’s personality is probably the most important aspect of his character.
Even by the standards of the Soviet high command, he is considered dangerously unpredictable.
His mood can swing without warning from relative calm to hysterical rage. His tactics often follow the same logic: the enemy must never be able to anticipate what he is going to do.
One constant remains, however: Moskvin attacks.
Whatever his mood, he favours swift and violent offensives. He despises both the Allies and the Japanese and seems to take genuine pleasure in exterminating his adversaries.
On the other hand, he places real importance on his Soviet comrades, whom he considers loyal. This explains, in particular, his rather favourable attitude towards the Soviet Commander.
His psychological issues are obvious enough to be known within the Red Army.
However, no one seems willing to speak to him about them directly.
The Third World War
Moskvin takes part in several major operations during the Third World War.
In particular, he fights alongside the Soviet Commander, who gradually becomes one of the most important Officers in the Red Army.
Unlike Krukov, who is increasingly unable to tolerate his subordinate’s successes, Moskvin rather enjoys fighting alongside him.
Their relationship is based on something very simple: the Commander gives him enemies to eliminate, and Moskvin loves eliminating them.
Krasna-45
Moskvin plays a key role in the recapture of the Krasna-45 launch facility, located near Moscow.
The base became a strategic target during the offensive of the Empire of the Rising Sun against the Soviet Union.
Moskvin fights alongside the Soviet Commander to retake the facility.Natasha Volkov also plays a part in the operation. The Soviet forces ultimately secure a complete victory, although Shinzo Nagama manages to escape.
This operation helps to establish Moskvin as one of the Soviet commanders capable of working effectively with the player.
The temporary alliance with the Allies
The global situation becomes serious enough to prompt the Allied Forces and the Soviet Union to cooperate temporarily against the Empire of the Rising Sun.
Moskvin, too, accepts this situation.
This in no way implies that he holds the Allies in high regard.
He simply agrees to work temporarily with the Allied Commander because the Empire is, at that time, the primary enemy. In a move that speaks volumes about his character, Moskvin even grudgingly acknowledges the Allied Commander’s abilities: since the latter has not betrayed him, Moskvin feels he has no reason to kill him… for the time being.
For Moskvin, this is almost a mark of respect.
The Death of a Living God
In the Soviet campaign, Moskvin plays a particularly important role during the final invasion of Japan.
After securing several victories against the Empire, the Soviet Commander is ordered to carry out a decisive mission:to kill Emperor Yoshiro.
Moskvin is chosen as co-commander of the operation.
The battle takes place around Mount Fuji.
The Soviet forces must face the three main Imperial military commanders:
- Shinzo Nagama, an infantry specialist;
- Kenji Tenzai, commander of the mechanised forces;
- Naomi Shirada, a naval warfare specialist.
Moskvin helps to eliminate them alongside the Soviet Commander. The offensive eventually reaches the imperial Palace and Yoshiro is killed.
In this branch of the story, the Emperor’s death leads to the defeat of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
For Moskvin, the mission is almost ideal: a massive offensive, three enemy commanders to eliminate and a head of state to assassinate. Sources also highlight his particularly fierce enthusiasm during this operation.
The assault on New York
Moskvin returns for the final operation of the Soviet campaign.
Following the destruction of the main Allied Forces and the death of Robert Bingham, the Soviet Union launches its final offensive against the United States.
The target is New York.
The Soviet Commander and Moskvin lead the assault together.
Their objective is, in particular, to destroy Fort Bradley and then to attack the ultimate symbol of the United States: the Statue of Liberty.
Moskvin is clearly in his element.
In particular, he comments on Tanya, who is among the American defenders, and suggests various ways of getting rid of the famous Allied Commando.
The Soviets eventually win the battle.
The Statue of Liberty is destroyed and the Allied Forces surrender. The Soviet Commander then becomes the new Prime Minister of the World Soviet Union.
Moskvin, for his part, practically declares that he has never had so much fun in his life.
He encourages the new Premier to return to Russia, where a triumphant welcome awaits him.
Moskvin prefers to stay in New York.
He wants to carry on ‘having fun’ there.
This conclusion sums up the character rather well.
Imperial Campaign: The Battle of Odessa
Like the other characters in Red Alert 3, Moskvin also has an alternate fate in the Empire of the Rising Sun campaign.
In this branch, he takes part in the defence of Odessa against the Japanese offensive.
The problem for the Soviets is that the Japanese have the gigantic Shogun Executioner at their disposal.
Moskvin and Krukov try to hold their ground, but their forces are unable to stop the Imperial war machine.
Moskvin is ultimately defeated and killed in action.
Even in his final moments, however, he refuses to admit that he has truly been defeated.
As far as he is concerned, the clash was simply unfair: the Imperial Commander could only have won thanks to his gigantic robot.
This is yet another very characteristic portrayal of Moskvin: even when faced with total defeat, the problem must necessarily lie with someone else.
Red Alert 3: Uprising
Moskvin’s most interesting fate, however, is found in Red Alert 3: Uprising.
In the aftermath of the war, the Soviet Union has been defeated.
Cherdenko and Krukov have been ousted from power, the Red Army has collapsed and the Allied Forces are occupying part of the former Soviet territory.
Moskvin, however, has evaded capture.
And the collapse of the Soviet government has one particularly worrying consequence: there is now virtually no one left to control him.
A Soviet warlord
During the war, Moskvin’s superiors kept him under relatively close supervision due to his mental instability.
After the Soviet defeat, this ‘leash’ was removed.
Moskvin escaped with a small group of soldiers who remained personally loyal to him and began to act independently.
He thus became a sort of Soviet warlord, commander of his own troops amidst the post-war chaos.
And his mental state appears to have deteriorated further: after the war, Nikolai completely lost the plot.
The Emperor’s Tomb
Moskvin features notably in the events surrounding the imperial campaign in Uprising.
At the head of a Soviet naval force, he attempts to destroy the tomb of the late Emperor Yoshiro.
However, the attack is repelled.
The Japanese forces make use of captured FAV Peacekeepers, amongst other things, and then launch a naval counter-offensive that forces Moskvin to retreat.
Even after the official end of the war, he therefore continues to fight the Japanese on his own.
Vladivostok
Moskvin then reunites with his comrade Oleg Vodnik during the defence of Vladivostok.
The two Soviet commanders attempted to repel a new Imperial offensive.
Moskvin was particularly furious at having to face, once again, the same Japanese commander who had already defeated him.
The battle goes badly for the Soviets.
And the two men’s reaction is quite telling: Moskvin and Oleg begin to blame each other for the defeat.
Moskvin nevertheless survives the clash.
We know this because he subsequently reappears in the Commander’s Challenge.
The Commander’s Challenge
Moskvin is one of the many commanders faced by the FutureTech Commander in the Commander’s Challenge mode of Uprising.
He appears in several challenges and retains exactly the same personality: aggressive, sadistic, unpredictable and always convinced that another battle will finally prove his superiority.
In one of these clashes, he even has to face his worst nightmare: the Shogun Executioner.
This time, Moskvin finds himself in a battle that also involves Lydia Winters and the FutureTech Commander.
The trauma of his defeat at the hands of the gigantic Japanese machine has thus become a recurring running gag surrounding the character.
The obsession with FutureTech
Moskvin also eventually comes to understand what FutureTech is really up to.
The company’s Commander travels the world, taking on the best Officers of the former superpowers and seizing their military technologies.
But Moskvin’s reaction is very different from that of a reasonable Commander.
He contacts FutureTech directly and essentially proposes a deal:he will agree to leave them in peace on condition that their Commander agrees to face him once more on his own terms.
For Moskvin, even FutureTech’s global technological conspiracy thus becomes, above all, an excuse to organise another fight.