Vladimir Artsezo
Vladimir Artsezo (born 25th June 1898) is a Russian military officer who is currently serving as the Foreign Minister of the Russian Liberation Army and leader of its pro-Nazi faction.
In-Game Biography
After Vlasov came the flood. The rats, the thugs, and the diehard fascists banded together for survival, looking for their new leader. In Vladimir Gavrilovich Artsezo, they have found their latest fighter against Bolshevism.
Looking at his history, it's unsurprising to see why the spineless find so much in common with the man hold up so high. First joining the Russian Imperial Army as an officer, he served until the October Revolution when he threw in his lot with the Red Army. Progressively, he ascended the ranks — peaking as a Colonel — an alleged glass ceiling due to his Imperial background.
In wartime, his military career took another turn after his capture by the Germans. Adopting an unashamedly servile attitude, he made the best of these circumstances by loyally collaborating with his new overlords. Even among the ROA, his naked opportunism was met with disgust. Regardless, Artsezo joined them during the WRW when they made their incursion into Samara.
Already, Artsezo has proven himself as the most cunning of the former collaborators, neutralizing his rivals without much difficulty. In time, the full extent of his agenda will be revealed, whatever that may be. The mission of crushing Bolshevism satisfies most in the ROA, but others look to him for more, a mandate greater than base self-satisfaction.
Yet, no matter how hard they look, they will not find it.
Background
Service in the Red Army
Prior to the start of Operation Barbarossa, Artsezo had defected from the Tsarist military to serve in the Red Army not long after the Russian Revolution began first as a regimental adjuntant before becoming a Colonel by 1936 and later took part in the Soviet-Finnish War.
World War II and beyond
When Operation Barbarossa happened and the Germans smashed their way across the Soviet Union, Artsezo would be captured. From here, he willingly embraced his new role as a willing collaborator of the Germans and an opportunistic sellout even amongst the Russians who chose to fight for them. Artsezo would also serve in the Russian Liberation Army and later the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia led by former Soviet general Andrey Vlasov.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Artsezo remained with the Germans for a while. But when the West Russian War broke out in 1956, he chose to side with KONR against the German occupiers when they made their incursion into the city of Samara. Since the end of the war, Artsezo has continue to work for KONR and the ROA with aspirations of becoming Russia's new overlord ruler.
Involvement
Artsezo can either be chosen as Vlasov's successor as leader of the KONR or come to power through a coup, if the player does not secure his influence. Since reunification is done by Vlasov, Artsezo's adventure starts at the regional stage.
At that stage, Artsezo implements a kleptocratic military junta, as evident by both his political and economic focuses. His focus tree regarding economics largely remains the same for the rest of the two candidates, with the exception that he won't form unions by any means, and how he will also suffer some penalty of gaining a higher poverty level. His diplomatic focuses reveal that he will eventually, while co-operating with Germany, cut all ties with them once they become financially unsubstantial and not useful to him.
At the super-regional stage, the true nature of his economic system begins to unfold as through his focuses is revealed that his "web" is a covert term for a neo-feudalist control over Russian society, assigning his general secretaries and civilian ministers to take control of certain provinces to accumulate the profit and expand their influence for Artsezo. This makes the middle class impossible to exist, as all the fruits of labor are accumulated by Artsezo's most loyal men.
Unlike Sergei Bunyachenko or Miletiy Zykov, Artsezo is not capable of peacefully unifying with any warlord at either the regional or super-regional stages, likely due to his desire for Russia (to eventually sell the country to the highest bidder) being so incompatible with the goals of any other warlord. Even Pavel Batov, who will meet with Bunyachenko to discuss peaceful unification despite both having fought on opposite sides of the West Russian War, will not have the option to peacefully unify with Artsezo.
Quote upon unification
"Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find nothing."
—Aesop