Nastasha Romanenko

Nastasha Romanenko (ナスターシャ・ロマネンコ) is a Ukrainian weapons analyst. As a member of NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Team), she helped Solid Snake via codec during the Shadow Moses Incident, giving him information on firearms and nuclear weapons. She is also a heavy smoker.

History
She was born and raised in Prypiat, Ukraine and was 10 years old when she and her family were exposed to radiation due to the Chernobyl nuclear accident, on April 26, 1986. Natasha was later found to be infertile from radiation poisoning that gave her problems with her thyroid gland. In 1990, Nastasha’s parents were killed when they were exposed to lethal amounts of radiation while helping in the clean-up. This made her become very strongly opposed to nuclear weapons and nuclear power, claiming that nuclear bombing represents "An invisible war that transcends borders and generations." and she later moved to the US when her parents died- Still plagued by the effects of residual radiation poisoning and the gauntlet of procedures it entails. However, because she has never been diagnosed with cancer, the help she has been able to receive has been limited. After joining the DIA in 1992, she met and later married Richard Ames, but the marriage didn't last long and they quickly divorced. In her own words they "spent much of [their] brief marriage in disagreement over virtually every issue." In 1995 she left the DIA to become a freelance analyst, promoting her anti-nuke message. She then wrote freelance military criticism for a variety of military intelligence journals including the US Naval Journal.

In 1996, Nastasha attends the Canberra Commission, the world's first nationally hosted nuclear weapon abolition proposal committee. Afterwards, she joins NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Team) as a military and nuclear analysist.

In 2005, Ames made contact with her and forced her into helping Solid Snake over the Codec as he infiltrated Shadow Moses. She helped him by providing information on nuclear matters. Ames kept many secrets from Nastasha, and she learned of many government, coming close to learning about the Patriots. Some of the information she uncovered was so top secret that she began to wonder if she would even be allowed to live after the operation. After the incident was over, Ames handed her a disc containing all the specifications for FOXDIE, hoping it would keep her safe. Ames disappeared again shortly afterwards. Romanenko has since remained single.

Afterwards, Nastasha fled from California (where she lived) and went into hiding. She felt incredibly affected by what she had heard during her time helping Snake, and was through being a bystander. Putting herself in renewed danger, she wrote a book about the incident entitled In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth.

After she published her book she donated the royalties to help fund Snake and Otacon's Anti-Metal Gear organization Philanthropy. After that she disappeared again.

Snake later mentioned to Raiden that he did not know what happened to her after she helped him form Philanthropy, but said that she was probably still a heavy smoker.

Her ex-husband, Ames, was taken hostage during the Big Shell Incident. He died after his pacemaker was shut down by the Patriots as part of the S3 project. The Patriots probably decided to kill Ames because he betrayed them by giving Nastasha the disk containing data about FOXDIE and letting her escape.

Trivia

 * Nastasha's favorite weapon is the Stinger missile. Coincidentally, her favorite novel is also a thriller titled Stinger, and her favorite cocktail is the "Stinger." To put it in her own words, she seems to "have a thing for stingers."
 * It was Nastasha who provided Otacon with information about the Dwarf Gekko prior to Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection.
 * Nastasha was the only one who didn't have a problem with Snake smoking (due to the fact that she is a heavy smoker herself).