Nikolai Zinoviev

I am one of the supervisors, that's all you need to know! Nicholai Ginovaef (based on Russian Николай Зиновьев and also known by the codename "Silver Wolf") was a ruthless UBCS operative and Monitor agent (taking part in Operation Watchdog) in the Umbrella Corporation. He served as one of the two main antagonists of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

Raccoon City Outbreak
You can either accept it with dignity or die with regret! It's entirely up to you!

Nicholai served as a Commando team leader, with the rank of Sergeant, when the UBCS was sent into Raccoon City by Umbrella in an effort to contain the t-virus outbreak.

Secretly, however, Nicholai was a member of "Operation Watchdog"; a covert mission to gather combat data on Zombies and escaped B.O.W.s, along with any other dangers in the infested city. With each collection of information, the agent in question would receive a large monetary reward.

Platoon Delta - which he was assigned to - suffered heavy casualties, with only he, corporal Carlos Oliveira and Lieutenant Mikhail Victor surviving. Upon the inclusion of former S.T.A.R.S. member Jill Valentine into the group, they prepared for evacuation to the Saint Michael Clock Tower. Before the tram could be started however, Nicholai (was either attacked by zombies or get trapped inside the Gas Station, his fate may change depending on where the player finds Carlos).

Two days later, in the early hours of October 1, he was in the Raccoon General Hospital where he was seen by Carlos, either attacking a fellow UBCS member named Tyrell Patrick, or with Tyrell telling him that Nicholai shot him. Carlos later has to run away from C4 charges planted by Nicholai which later blew up the building.

Nicholai used his position to assume command of a UBCS team tasked with "Operation: Emperor's Mushroom"; to retrieve a sample of blood from a Tyrant named Thanatos. Thanatos proved to be too much for the team to handle, so Nicholai was forced to enact the contingency plan; he killed Greg Mueller with a silenced pistol and then destroyed Raccoon University. This failed, resulting in Thanatos mutating into its super Tyrant form. However, he had escaped long before the buildings, and thus the Tyrant's destruction.

He went to the Raccoon Park where he met Jill again, revealing his real plans, before escaping to the "Dead Factory" upon the arrival of a giant worm.

Jill met him for a final time within the factory grounds, where he commandeered a Helicopter - the same helicopter Carlos told Jill about.

Fate
The player's choice affects Nicholai's fate. If Jill jumped off the bridge, Nicholai has two other fates;


 * If Jill jumps, Nicholai takes the last helicopter, and Jill has the choice to either blow up his helicopter and kill him, or try reason with him, which allows him to escape.


 * If Jill didn't jump off the bridge, then Nicholai is killed by The Nemesis.

In Resident Evil: Survivor, a report can be found dated October 6, 1998 which is signed by Nicholai. However, this is only in the English version of the game. In the original Japanese version of the game however, this last report is signed by the "Umbrella B.O.W. Development Staff", not Nicholai.

The history timeline in Resident Evil 5 and the Biohazard Archives stated that Nicholai took the last helicopter and escaped.

Appearance in Film


Nicholai appeared in the second film. While Nicholai was also a member of the UBCS, his character in the film is radically different than that in the game. This character has a deep sense of goodness and upon introducing himself says he's an ex U.B.C.S member. He's also second in command to Carlos who is his best friend. This is very different from his game counterpart, where he is an evil supervisor who only looks out for himself. The character Timothy Cain took over Nicholai's role as the antagonist.

During the outbreak, which led to the deaths of the entire team save Carlos, Nicholai is killed saving the lives of Jill and Angela Ashford, when he is overrun and mauled to death by Cerberi in Raccoon City Junior High School.

Trivia

 * In the novelization of Resident Evil: Apocalypse, author Keith R.A. DeCandido changes Nicholai's surname to "Sokolov."
 * Although "Ginovaef" is not actually a Slavic name, its pronunciation in Russian is the same as the real name "Zinoviev", leading one to believe that this was a translation error on the part of Capcom an attempt to romanise the name.
 * Nicholai is the only major character of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis to not appear in any FMVs.
 * In the epilogue of Resident Evil: Outbreak, an Umbrella researcher speaks to a man on the phone six months after the destruction of Raccoon City and the man on the phone sounds identical to Nicholai from the previous chapter. However, it is unknown if this is Nicolai or not, as he is not named.