Sasha: A battle-hardened, sturdy soldier, Sasha Artamonov returned from Afghanistan as one of the few uninjured men. Because of his unique hand-to-hand combat skills, he became highly sought-after material just when Dmitry Ushak, a notorious thief-in-law, started to recruit experienced fighters for his gang. While walking home one afternoon, Sasha was approached by a muscular man, who spoke to him as if they knew each other for years. It was a very brief conversation.
         "Not interested," was Sasha's firm reply. He picked up pace, but the man followed along.
         "Ushak will pay you better than anyone," the man insisted. "Why don't you think about it?"
         "I just thought about it, and my final answer is no. Get lost."
         "If that is how you want it, soldier-boy," the man spread out his arms and backed away, adding from a safe distance, "welcome back to a war zone."
         "Next time you see me walking down the street, you'd better cross over to the other side," Sasha called after him, just to show that he was not afraid.
         That night Sasha's windows were pelted with rocks, shattering the glass. The next morning he replaced them. A few evenings later the racketeers soaked Sasha's door in kerosene and torched it. By pure fortune he was at home to extinguish the fire, but the psychological damage was done. Like many other young people in Kiev, Sasha lived at home with his parents. They were old and frail people, easy to scare.           After the kerosine incident, Sasha's parents refused to leave the safety of their place for any reason, even to purchase groceries or to take a walk in the park. The apartment became their prison.
That is when Sasha decided to put a stop to this juvenile harassment. After replacing the charred door, Sasha went hunting after his enemies. He visited countless bars and restaurants to spot any familiar faces.          One afternoon he stumbled upon three of Ushak's soldiers sitting in a cafe on Kreschatik. In view of the other customers Sasha unleashed the full power of his experience unto these unlucky souls. Two of them emerged from the hospital as life-long invalids, walking only with assistance of a cane.
To avoid certain retribution from Ushak's gang, Sasha promptly re-applied to Alfa, his old unit. He was approved on the spot and assigned to serve as one of the bodyguards for the Minister of Trade and Economic Relations, with a license to carry and use a standard issue Makarov 9 mm. This position legally allowed Sasha to kill anyone who crossed his path, including Ushak, with no consequences.