Sergei Vladimir, was perhaps Umbrella Founder Oswell E.
Spencer’s most loyal employees. He stood at 6 feet and 7.5 inches. He was of
Russian nationality and served time in the Russian Armed Forces. During his time in Russia, he spent many years
in military service reaching the rank of Colonel. He participated in the Soviet
Invasion of Afghanistan. During that time, he had lost his right eye in a
battle. Despite his best service to the military, Sergei was forced to resign.
Times would get rough for the Russian Armed Forces with Mikhail Gorbachev’s new
systems of reforms in 1991. After the failure of the Commonwealth of
Independent States, the soldiers and officers were left with nowhere to
go.
With nowhere left to go, Sergei contacted Umbrella
Corporation in December of 1991. After undergoing a field test for Tyrant
adaptation, it was discovered that Sergei was among the few that had the
genetic compatibility with the T strain virus. This was very important since it
was required for the creation of a Tyrant. Sergei allowed Umbrella to create 10
clones of himself and submitted them to Umbrella after much persuasion from
Nicholai Zinoviev. Sergei would go on to think of the clones and the resulting
Tyrants as his brothers. With the
submission of the clones, Sergei became a Executive with Umbrella.
For giving him a home and a purpose, Sergei vowed his
loyalty to Oswell E. Spencer. With his
experience as a Military officer, Sergei created the Umbrella Biohazard
Countermeasure Service (UBCS); the private military of the Umbrella
Corporation. He also led a top secret internal espionage organization, its
operatives only being referred to as “Monitors”. Sergei’s clones were essential to the Tyrant
program to take off and led to many successes as the Tyrant became the most
successful of the Bioweapons. Sergei would continue to play an important role
in the Tyrant program, by personally overseeing the development of his “Ivans”
and contributing DNA and Psychological scenarios. Sergei would have 2 T-103
tyrants created to serve as his bodyguards. Sergei would refer to them as
“Ivan”. Sometime around 1998, Sergei was appointed as the Director of the
Caucasus Laboratory.
During this time, he came to not trust a fellow Umbrella
Executive Officer, Albert Wesker. He suspected Wesker of not being loyal to
Umbrella and grew tired of Wesker continually not following orders. Despite the
disagreements, both men held a mutual respect for each other.
In July 1998, Spencer
ordered Sergei to retrieve the T-A.L.O.S. prototype from the Arklay Laboratory
and transport it to the Caucasus Lab in Russia to continue its development.
Umbrella had plans to re-open its Executive Officer Training School, Umbrella
Research Center but the man placed in charge of the task, Albert Wesker had
other plans. Sergei would learn of Wesker’s betrayal of Umbrella to an opposing
corporation and sent Ivan into combat against Wesker. The battle was cut short
as the self destruction of the Arklay Lab that was initiated by William Birkin
served as a distraction that allowed Wesker to escape. After the destruction of
Arklay, Sergei turned his attention back to the retrieval of the specimen of
T-A.L.O.S.
As Wesker was busy testing the B.O.Ws at the Arklay Lab,
Sergei used a remote connection to save all research data to the “U.M.F.-013”
and used the artificial intelligence defense computer codenamed “Red Queen” to
revoke Wesker’s access rights. The AI was then transported to the Caucasus Lab
to continue the development of and complete control of T-A.L.O.S. under his
strict supervision.
On September 29, Sergei was granted Executive powers as well
as complete control over all equipment and personal in response to the
biohazard in Raccoon City. Sergei departed for the city and used 6 of the mass
produced Tyrants to help complete objectives. One Tyrant was dropped by
helicopter into the Raccoon City Police Department to collect Sherry Birkin and
the G-Virus example in her pendent. The 5 other Tyrants were deployed to the
“Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A” to attack the US government special forces
units that was deployed to gain a sample of the G-Virus and to arrest William
Birkin. After the task of deploying the Tyrants, Sergei collected the
U.M.F.-013 from the confines of the underground lab. By this action, Sergei
ensured that Umbrella could recover from the loss of Raccoon City. The G-Virus
was procured at the end by HUNK, the only surviving member of the U.S.S. unit
sent to retrieve the G-Virus from Birkin. At the end, Raccoon City was nuked by
the US Government in a failed effort to contain and obliterate the outbreak.
It was around the time of 1998-2003; Sergei was made CEO of
Umbrella by Spencer, who retreated farther away from the spotlight. After the destruction
of Raccoon City, Umbrella started to fail miserably and was near destruction by
plummeting stock value. Spencer found an able and trusted ally in Sergei
Vladimir, who sought to bring about Umbrella’s recovery and a new era for
mankind. As his first directive as the new CEO, Sergei ordered all operations
be transferred to the Caucasus Laboratory that was disguised as an oil
refinery.
Once the new Headquarters was established, work on
T-A.L.O.S. was started with new vigor based on the body recovered at Arklay and
experimental data. Sergei ordered the
completion of T-A.L.O.S. was the main objective and should be done as soon as
possible.
Unknown to Sergei on February 18, 2003, Albert Wesker leaked
to the Russian Government not only the location of the Caucasus Lab but that
they were also developing BOWs there. In response, the Russian Government started
to plan a raid on the Lab. Alongside; the Russian Government forming opposition
to the Umbrella Branch, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine infiltrated the base
in hopes in destroying Umbrella for good. Wesker also infiltrated the base
separately in his efforts to gain access to the data inside the U.M.F.-013 as
well as revenge against Sergei for his earlier interference with Wesker’s plan.
As the Russian’s deployed the Private Anti-Bioterrorism
Unit, Sergei unleashed the finished prototype T-A.L.O.S. on Chris Redfield and
Jill Valentine. As the two agents, were busy fighting the prototype, Sergei met
Wesker for the second time in battle ordering two Ivans to dispose of Wesker.
As Sergei retreated back to the command center, Wesker was able to defeat the
Ivans, and without any other options; Sergei injected himself with the T-Virus.
During the final confrontation with his former colleague and
“friend”, Sergei mutated into a horrible form, known as “Monster Sergei”. A creature with four tentacles, bond arms, and
a large appendage with claws; used for both movement and attack. With his sanity seemingly lost as he seemed
to enjoy the painful blows that Wesker dealt him, Sergei was not able to last
long despite his overwhelming strength. Wesker dealt a death blow, as Sergei
died, his remains dissolved, and Wesker was able to complete his task. As the
last remaining CEO of Umbrella, the Corporation died alongside Sergei Vladimir
and any hopes of Umbrella’s recovery died as well.
Sources-
Resident Evil Wiki- http://residentevil.wikia.com/Sergei_Vladimir
Project Umbrella- http://projectumbrella.net/articles/Sergei-Vladimir
