Dmitry Yazov
Dmitry Yazov is the protégé of Dmitry Karbyshev, founder of the All-Russian Black League. He succeeds Karbyshev as Glavkoverkh (commander-in-chief) of Omsk after his master's death.
Biography
At a relatively young age, Yazov was evacuated to Omsk by the Soviet Union prior to their capitulation. A patriot to Russia at heart, the formation of the All-Russian Black League changed his life, for the better. Dmitry Karbyshev, after arriving in Omsk, took Yazov under his wing. He was heavily indoctrinated into the "Great Trial," a theoretical third war between Germany and Russia.
However, Yazov grew to follow the vision of the Great Trial in mind, and so did his fellow officers. Fueled by hatred of the Germans, he believed making the Great Trial merely a defensive war would be an injustice to all the lives lost by their hands. As Karbyshev's health declines, and with him as the chosen successor, it is only a matter of time before the Great Trial becomes the day when Germany will feel Russia's total revenge.
Involvement
Yazov succeeds Karbyshev as the Black League's leader after the latter dies following the completion of Omsk's first focus tree. Yazov is one of the hardest warlords to unify Russia under - the only warlord he can peacefully unify with is the Free Aviators; after that, he will have to go to war with whoever unifies West Russia and the eastern half of Russia. Similarly, he cannot exert influence in the Southern Urals and must invade to annex this territory. While he cannot unite peacefully with the West Russian Revolutionary Front, he does respect them greatly because of their fight against the Germans in the West Russian War; if the Front is led by Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Yazov will recruit Dmitry Ustinov and Alexey Yepishev into the Black League after defeating them.
Although Omsk's end goal of the Great Trial is shown to be a brave one, Yazov is shown to at least be pragmatic about getting there. He will genuinely reconstruct Russia, and will turn the Redemption Brigades (convicts who are allowed to serve in return for reduced/pardoned sentences that, prior to Yazov's command, were largely viewed as cannon fodder) into a legitimate fighting force by providing them better training and equipment. He will also make genuine efforts to connect diplomatically with the United States.
Despite the Black League claiming to the world that they are merely practicing "developmental authoritarianism" and will reinstate democracy as soon as they have unified Russia, should Sverdlovsk defeat Omsk, this is revealed to be a lie, as after being sentenced to death at his trial, Yazov will state that he believes democracy makes Russia weak. At the regional stage, in order to present a better image to the world, he has the choice to pretend to be a despot instead of ultranationalist.
Should a player-controlled Omsk face Komi led by Mikhail Suslov, Sergey Taboritsky or any centrist leader, Samara, the Aryan Brotherhood or Vyatka at the regional stage, or either Irkutsk led by Genrikh Yagoda or Buryatia at the superregional stage, Yazov will have unique flavor events condemning those countries and/or their leaders, as seen here. Additionally, if the player defeats the Aryan Brotherhood, Samara, or Amur as Omsk, each nation will have unique flavor events where Yazov executes members of those nations.
Quote upon unification
"Hatred of the invading enemy is a most humane feeling. But it is born with such a pain of heart and torment of the soul that God forbid anyone to experience it a second time."
—Pavel Batov
Trivia
- Yazov's music during the Russian unification super-event is called "Battle on the ice" from an movie Alexander Nevsky about the Teutonic-Novogrodian war. The historical Battle on the Ice ended with a decisive Novgorodian victory, which halted any further Teutonic expansion eastwards and made the Teutons drop all claims on Russian lands. This may be referencing Yazov's plan to undo german eastern expansion and his frequent use of the word "Teutons."
- Yazov's portrait, as with Oktan, after unifying Russia has a 5% chance of appearing with sunglasses.