Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin

Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin (Russian: Евгений Борисович Волгин), also known as Thunderbolt, was a sadistic Stalinist GRU colonel who attempted to seize control of the Soviet Union by overthrowing Nikita Khrushchev and installing Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksei Kosygin in his place, and then manipulating Brezhnev and Kosygin into doing his bidding.

Early Life
Not much is known about Volgin's early life. During World War II, he took part in the Katyn Forest Massacre, in which the Soviets murdered over 20,000 Polish officers. During this time he was serving in the NKVD, a Soviet police unit that murdered deserting or retreating Soviet soldiers.

At some point prior to the events of Operation Snake Eater, Volgin's father died and he inherited The Philosophers' Legacy illegally.

Volgin was an extremely strong man, even for his large size. He combined his tremendous strength and skills with unexplained ability of electrical manipulation, gaining him the nickname "Thunderbolt" in America.

Volgin, under the rank of Colonel, was present during the Virtuous Mission, where he supervised the formal defection of The Boss to the Soviet Union. Unbeknownst to him, The Boss' defection was a ruse set up the US government to steal the Philosophers' Legacy from him. Unfortunately, Volgin, in a move seemingly not anticipated by the US government, fired an American-made Davy Crockett at Sokolov's research facility, destroying it in a nuclear explosion. In actuality, the CIA Director had instructed Volgin to do this, as part of a cunning plan to assassinate The Boss from the start. This sparked an international incident, and began Operation Snake Eater.

During the operation, Volgin was constantly enraged at Naked Snake's actions, and of the actions of a spy among their ranks. He was unaware that the spy he hated was in fact Tatyana, a woman he constantly abused. Volgin found and captured Naked Snake, however, when Snake disguised himself as Volgin's lover, Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov, in order to find Sokolov. Snake, however, escaped his prison cell and continued his mission to destroy the Shagohod.



Later, Volgin found Naked Snake planting C3 explosives on the Shagohod's liquid fuel tanks, intending to destroy it. He, with the assistance of Ocelot and The Boss, captured Snake. Whilst this was happening, EVA had stolen the Philosophers' Legacy microfilm from Groznyj Grad's underground vaults, but was discovered by the guards, revealing her true identity.

Volgin faced Snake in combat, but was defeated by Snake despite his impressive electrical abilities. The colonel was also then betrayed by Ocelot who witnessed the fight and refused to obey Volgin's orders. Snake and EVA escaped Groznyj Grad by motorcycle, but were quickly pursued by Volgin in the Shagohod, which they had in fact failed to destroy. As the chase dragged on, Volgin himself laid waste on Groznyj Grad in an attempt to kill Snake and EVA. The colonel even went as far as killing his own men that got in the way; this included shooting his own men with the Shagohod's machine guns, ramming into a MI-24 Hind and destroying it and even running over several of the motorbike crews that gave chase on Snake and EVA.

After the Shagohod was almost destroyed, Volgin piloted what was left of it to face Snake and EVA. Even after the Shagohod failed completely, Volgin refused to let it go, powering it with his own electricity. In the end, however, Volgin fell to Naked Snake's RPG-7.

Standing atop the ruined Shagohod, Volgin died after being struck by a bolt of lightning. Catching a glimpse of The Sorrow at that moment, Snake could not help but wonder if The Sorrow had summoned the lightning. Some time after Volgin's death, his defeat at the hands of Naked Snake (later known as Big Boss) was spread all over the Soviet Union, making Big Boss a hero to the Soviet Union's people, as well as in America.

Abilities
Volgin has incredible strength which makes him a deadly foe in battle. He only uses one weapon (bullets) which he fires using his electric powers.

On top of this, however, Volgin possesses the ability of electrical manipulation; as he stated during his torture session with Naked Snake, his "body carries an electric charge of 10 million volts". He uses this power to enhance his strength to a superhuman level. Notably, he was seen punching through the solid metal of the Shagohod's armor which even the RPG-7 was unable to penetrate directly. On a slightly related note, he seems to have a habit of using bullets as brass knuckles and then dropping them in front of people to intimidate them.

However, the true capabilities of his electrical power were not seen until his battle with Naked Snake. During this battle, he demonstrated the ability to electrify metallic objects to his own specifications (for example, he was able to create a steady band of electricity across the floor) and project steady beams of electricity forward. Instead of using a firearm, he could hold bullets in his hands and use his power to ignite the propellant. He used this ability in several ways, including a barrage attack, a machine-gun, and to increase the damage from his punches. He could also use it to create a shield that could temporarily protect him from gunfire. He also had the ability to channel his own electricity, as shown when he was able to revive and power the Shagohod after it was nearly destroyed by Naked Snake's RPG.

Nevertheless, his electricity is subject to the same physics as regular electricity. It is attracted by metal (which he used to his advantage to stop Naked Snake from using a metal gun). It may also be that he himself is vulnerable to it, as he wears an insulated rubber suit under his clothes (this may explain the lightning-shaped scars on his face).

Trivia

 * Volgin is bisexual, as can be seen by his relationships with both Major Ivan Raidenovich Raikov and EVA.
 * He is shown to have a deep sense of respect (and to a certain extent, even fear) for The Boss.
 * On several occasions (particularly whenever it was raining) Volgin would chant the phrase "Kuwabara. Kuwabara", meaning "mulberry bush". In Japanese mythology, lightning did not strike mulberry bushes. Ironically one of the rare times Volgin does not utter this phrase he is struck by a bolt of lightning.
 * Volgin was proud of his skills as a torturer, but he was actually extremely bad at it. Not one person he tortured tells him anything, and he often accidentally kills his captives. In fact, Volgin actually managed to interrogate Naked Snake backwards by revealing information that Snake didn't previously know about such as the nature and exact location of the Legacy nor did he know about the deeper facts about his mission.