Colonel Volgin - Definition and Overview

Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin is a fictional character in the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

He is a GRU colonel who attempts to seize control of the Soviet Union by deposing Nikita Khrushchev and installing Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksei Kosygin in his place. Volgin has inherited a large sum of money from his father, who was in charge of managing and laundering the $100 billion fund that would come to be known as the Philosophers' Legacy. He hopes to use this fund and the superweapon Shagohod to gain world dominance. He established a major military fortress in Groznyj Grad where the Shagohod could be developed.

Volgin is a giant of a man, at well over six feet tall, and is known throughout the Soviet Union as a brutal, cold-blooded sadist. He thoroughly enjoys torturing prisoners, and is even said to remove their blindfolds before he beats them to death. During World War II, he took part in the Katyn Forest Massacre, in which the Soviets murdered over 25,000 Polish citizens.

His body carries an electrical charge of ten million volts. Throughout the game, he uses a number of powerful electrical attacks, including shooting lightning bolts at will. He is also shown manipulating bullets with these attacks. He can protect himself from gunfire by surrounding himself with a strong electromagnetic field. Because of these abilities, Volgin is known in the West as Thunderbolt.

It is hinted that Volgin is bisexual, as can be seen by his relationships with both Major Ivan Raidenovich Raikov and Tatyana.

He is eventually destroyed by Naked Snake, along with the Shagohod, during Operation Snake Eater. His body is immolated after being struck by a bolt of lightning during storm, possibly summoned by The Sorrow.