Actress: Aleksandra Kaniak

Name: Zofia*Nationality:* Soviet*Affiliation:* Soviet Union*Rank:* Lieutenant*Role:* Soviet intelligence Officer*Post:* Commander’s headquarters*Allies:* Soviet Commander, Alexander Romanov*Enemies:* Allied Forces, Yuri and his Army*Conflicts:* Third World War, Psychic Dominators crisis*Games:* Red Alert 2, Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge
Status: Alive at the end of the Soviet campaign in Yuri's Revenge; subsequent fate unknown.

Zofia is a Lieutenant and intelligence Officer in the Soviet Union during the Third World War. She is assigned to the Soviet Commander to ensure the smooth running of his command and to provide him with intelligence, briefings and operational analyses.

She thus fulfils a role for the Soviets comparable to that of Eva Lee amongst the Allies.

A specialist in military simulations

Zofia reports to the Soviet Commander just before the offensive against the United States begins.

She explains to him that she has taken part in more than fifty successful campaign simulations since the Great War, experience which justifies her assignment to the new General.

Romanov intervenes immediately after her introduction and even jokes that Zofia is trying to secure a promotion.

From then on, she accompanies the Commander throughout virtually the entire Soviet campaign.

She relays the Kremlin’s objectives to him, analyses enemy forces, presents new Soviet technologies and monitors the progress of operations on the various fronts.

The Third World War

When Alexander Romanov launches the invasion of the United States, Zofia is assigned to the general in charge of leading the bulk of Soviet operations.

She assists him during his campaigns in the United States and Europe, as well as during the fighting that eventually reaches Soviet territory directly.

The Commander quickly racks up victories.

However, his position becomes increasingly precarious as rivalries emerge at the very top of the Soviet regime.

Romanov, Vladimir and, above all, Yuri each seek to exert their influence over the war.

Zofia, for her part, remains loyal to the Commander.

Yuri’s Rise

Yuri gradually exerts an ever-greater influence over Romanov.

Thanks to his psychic powers and organisational skills, he effectively becomes the true Mastermind of the Soviet Union.

The situation reaches a critical point following Romanov’s death.

Yuri then personally summons the Commander to Moscow on the pretext of wanting to thank him for his victories.

Zofia intervenes before he leaves.

She has just received a video cassette recorded by Romanov, with instructions that it be played after his death.

Romanov’s final message

The recording reveals the truth.

Romanov appears deeply weakened and struggles to explain that Yuri is controlling his mind. The Premier asks the Commander to punish the traitor and avenge him.

Zofia’s intervention therefore completely changes the situation.

Without this tape, the Commander would have travelled to Moscow at Yuri’s invitation.

Instead, he marches there with his army.

The revolt against Yuri

The Commander then launches an offensive against Moscow and the forces that have remained loyal to Yuri.

The Soviet war momentarily turns into a full-blown civil war.

The Commander’s forces storm Yuri’s defences and destroy the Kremlin, leading the Soviets to believe their adversary has been eliminated.

Zofia then continues to serve the Commander.

In particular, she examines the archives left behind by Yuri and uncovers a new threat.

The Chronosphere in Alaska

Whilst examining Yuri’s files, Zofia discovers that the Allies still possess a Chronosphere located near Point Hope, in Alaska.

This weapon would enable them to strike virtually anywhere, including New York, Prague or Moscow.

The destruction of this facility therefore becomes the final major objective of the war.

Zofia briefs the Commander on the situation and explains that a victory in Alaska would eliminate the Allied Forces’ last real hope.

She even goes so far as to tell him that, following this victory, he will be ready to become the Leader of the World.

Soviet Victory

The Commander crosses the Bering Strait and attacks the Allied positions in Alaska.

The Chronosphere is destroyed.

In this branch of the story, the last major Allied Forces are crushed and the Soviet Union wins the Third World War. The Commander then becomes the new leader of a world dominated by the USSR.

Zofia has thus accompanied his rise from his very first operation right through to the final victory.

However, this conclusion is part of the Soviet campaign in Red Alert 2 and may contradict the continuity leading up to Yuri's Revenge.

Yuri's Revenge

In the second version of the Third World War, the situation is completely different.

This time, the Allied Forces have won the war.

The Soviet Union is defeated and Romanov is imprisoned.

Zofia, however, is among the Soviets who refuse to surrender.

She joins a Soviet resistance movement alongside the Commander.

This is an important detail for her profile: unlike many regime leaders, Zofia remains active after the military collapse of the USSR.

Romanov’s message

Despite being imprisoned, Romanov manages to make contact with the resistance fighters.

He reveals to them that the Allies have Albert Einstein’s time machine in San Francisco.

This technology presents an extraordinary opportunity.

If the Soviets can get their hands on it, they will be able to travel back in time and alter the outcome of the Third World War.

Zofia therefore resumes her former role working with the Commander.

The aim is no longer simply to restore the Soviet Union: history must be rewritten.

Back to the Past

Soviet forces seize the time machine.

However, a fault in the power supply causes a journey far more spectacular than anticipated: the Soviets are catapulted more than 60 million years into the past, amongst the dinosaurs.

After surviving this prehistoric excursion, they manage to return to the period they were seeking: the start of the Third World War.

A new timeline is created.

Zofia then officially becomes the Commander’s intelligence officer once again.

This time, however, they already know what is to come.

Changing the course of the war

The knowledge brought from the future enables the Soviets to alter several pivotal events.

One of the most important objectives is to prevent the Allies from gaining the strategic advantage that had enabled them to win the first version of the war.

In particular, the Commander leads an attack on Albert Einstein’s laboratory in Germany.

In the previous timeline, this offensive had failed.

This time, the Soviets manage to breach the defences and destroy the Chronosphere, thereby upsetting the balance of the war.

But another threat remains.

Yuri.

The War Against Yuri

Yuri takes advantage of the conflict between the Allies and the Soviets to build up his own army and his global network of Psychic Dominators.

The Commander and Zofia must therefore simultaneously secure a Soviet victory and prevent Yuri from taking control of the planet.

The campaign ultimately leads the Soviets to Yuri’s last stronghold.

The Commander’s forces face off against Allied and Soviet units under mental control before destroying the devices that enslave them.

Yuri then attempts to escape using the time machine.

And Zofia intervenes directly.

Yuri and the dinosaurs

Zofia manipulates the workings of the time machine.

Instead of sending Yuri to his chosen destination, she transports him back to the age of the dinosaurs.

This is a particularly fitting conclusion, given the misadventure the Soviets had previously experienced.

Yuri ultimately finds himself face to face with a Tyrannosaurus rex, bringing his attempt at world domination to an end.

In this version of events, Zofia is no longer content merely to provide intelligence: she plays a direct part in Yuri’s final defeat.

Zofia and the Soviet Commander

It is also in Yuri's Revenge that the relationship between Zofia and the Commander becomes more personal.

For most of Red Alert 2, Zofia maintains a professional demeanour.

She clearly admires the Commander’s military abilities, but remains his intelligence officer.

In the second timeline, this admiration appears to evolve.

Before the final operation against Yuri, Zofia allows herself a much more personal remark: she mentions the bite of the Moscow winter, whilst suggesting that it might be different this year if the Commander were to return to see her in Moscow.