Vladimir Gurov
XCOM:_Gray_Dawn#Supporting_Cast
Vladimir Gurov was a Soviet scientist, captured by the Germans during WWII. By all accounts he was a genius, unparalleled in his fields at the time. If not for the Iron Curtain, Gurov might have been world-famous, ranking among or above other contemporaries such as Einstein, Fermi and Oppenheimer. Instead, he was forced to school Nazi scientists like Werner Von Braun and Hubertus Strughold under the watchful eye of the Reich. After the War, he was caught up in Operation Paperclip, the OSS plan to deprive Germany of its scientific base and deny German military research from falling into the hands of the Soviets and the United Kingdom. After 1947, Gurov was recruited by the founders of Project Covenant, and he went to work for them researching alien technology.
Of all the scientists working at the Project, only Gurov seemed to be making any progress. After 24 years of studying the extraterrestrial technology, Gurov's mind seemed to break. He disappeared and took with him several samples of alien tech and made off with years of research. His betrayal caught the psych profilers completely off guard and his actions set Project Covenant back decades.
After he left Project Covenant, the agency began facing competition when it came to investigating and recovering lost alien technology. It wasn't until the mid-80's that a CIA operative began uncovering the activities of a mysterious group dubbed the "Red Hand" (so named because they behaved like some kind of Russian Mafia). The originator of these reports was Lillian Marie, and shortly thereafter, she was persuaded to leave her old life behind and join Project Covenant. With further investigation, it was believed that Gurov was the founder of the Red Hand, but his motives are unclear.
If Gurov were alive today, he would be 102 years old.
