Dimitri Rascalov

"You know if there is one thing I've learned, it's that we must obey the rules of the game. We can pick the game Niko Bellic, but we cannot change the rules."

- Dimitri Rascalov to Niko Bellic. "But you messed up, and left a lot of bad debt. You left a good friend of mine out of pocket, big time."

- Dimitri's betrayal.

Dimitri Rascalov is a nefarious Russian criminal who became the leader of the Russian Mafia and the main antagonist of the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as being an unseen antagonist in the DLC The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. He acted out as the right-hand man to Russian mobster Mikhail Faustin, but would betray him by requesting protagonist Niko Bellic into killing him before going on to affiliate himself with fellow Russian crime lord Ray Bulgarin; ultimately betraying Niko as well.

Since then, he became the newly established Russian Crime Boss of Liberty City upon making new alliances with Italian mobster Jimmy Pegorino, Russian mob boss Kenny Petrovic, and Italian Don Giovanni Ancelotti. In doing so, Dimitri would later betray any asset he partners with so he wouldn't have to "share the spoils of the victory" and also make numerous attempts to have Niko killed, which eventually leads to his own death following some disastrous circumstances.

Background
Dimitri was born in 1969 in Russia and fought in the Soviet Army during the Cold War and befriended Mikhail Faustin. The two spent time in a Siberian prison and was defended by Mikhail from rapists. They had matching tattoos on the palms of their hands and were made "brothers for life". Eventually, they became criminals in Russia, notably "selling hash to tourists in Red Square". Dimitri was apparently convicted of murder multiple times.

During the mid 90s, he "exploited a loophole in the US immigration treaty" and moved himself, Mikhail and his family to Liberty city, where Mikhail would extort various shops and people across the city as a major mobster with Dimitri as something of an assistant. According to the LCPD computers, Dimitri was arrested in 1998 for extortion and arrested again in 2000 for hijacking. Over the years, Dimitri noticed Mikhail's new addictions to alcohol and cocaine that got him really paranoid while Dimitri abused painkillers, yet remained much more calm than Mikhail. Dimitri preferred to "play by the rules", which was becoming really difficult due to Mikhail's constant lashing-out and his addiction and attitude not making him or Dimitri very popular among the wackjobs and gangsters and mobsters of Liberty City.

Storyline
Dimitri first met Niko Bellic and his cousin, Roman, in 2008 when they are kidnapped and tortured for killing Mikhail's employee, Vlad Glebov. He is shown to be working with Mikhail himself as his always-calm assistant. Since then, Niko would be doing favors for them, with one job that Dimitri against doing being killing the son of Kenny Petrovic, a major Russian crime boss in Liberty City who sought vengeance on Mikhail after he found out what Niko did in Mikhail's name.

Later on, Dimitri meets Niko secretly on a pier and orders him to kill his own boss so that Petrovic would spare the both of them. While doing so, Mikhail tries to warn Niko about Dimitri's backstabbing nature, but fails and is killed by Niko. It is proven true when he finally betrays Niko and is shown working for his old enemy, Ray Bulgarin. After Niko escapes the ambush at a warehouse where Niko was meant to recieve payment for the hit (helped by "Little" Jacob Hughes), Dimitri would try to turn his life into a living hell by burning down his cousin Roman's apartment and taxi depot.

In The Lost and Damned DLC, he was owed an unspecified amount of money by Johnny Klebitz's girlfriend Ashley, so now Johnny (working for the Lost Motorcycle Club) had to kidnap Roman so that Dimitri would leave her alone. After that, Roman was brought before minions of Dimitri to be held hostage until Niko's arrival. However, Niko saves Roman from Dimitri.

He eventually became the top supplier of cocaine for the Ancelotti family, and has one of his boats stolen by the Pegorino family. Later, he discovered that deputy mayor Bryce Dawkins, a happily-married man, was actually a homosexual and extorted him.

Ending
Near the end of GTA IV, Dimitri is allied with Jimmy Pegorino during a heroin deal, and Jimmy asks Niko if he could join in on it, the reward being $250,000. While Roman encourages Niko to put his vengeance aside and go through with the deal, Niko's girlfriend Kate McReary tells Niko that he shouldn't sacrifice his principles for money. Niko can then choose to go through with the deal or betray Pegorino and exact revenge on Dimitri.

Deal
If the player goes through with the Deal, Dimitri is to deliver the heroin to a third party while Niko and Phil Bell go to the buyer's compound to retrieve the money from them. Dimitri betrays Niko again by killing the buyer's representatives and taking the heroin for himself. Niko and Phil fight their way through the compound, but retrieve the money regardless. After this, Niko cuts his ties with Pegorino, and Kate refuses to attend Roman's wedding. Later at the said wedding, Dimitri sends a hitman to kill Niko, but Roman is shot and killed during the struggle. Enraged, Niko and his friend "Little" Jacob Hughes follow Pegorino's men to an abandoned casino, where Dimitri and Pegorino are hiding. Inside, Niko witnesses Dimitri kill Pegorino, saying he "didn't work this hard to share the spoils of a victory". He then flees to Hapiness Island in a chopper, with Niko and Jacob pursuing in another. There, Niko mortally wounds Dimitri, and watches as he dies in front of the Statue of Happiness, criticizing his traitorous nature.

Revenge
If the player decides to exact Revenge, Niko tracks down Dimitri at the cargo ship Platypus, the ship that brought Niko to Liberty City. There, he shoots his way into the cargo hold and corners Dimitri there. After killing his remaining men, Niko backs Dimitri into a corner. As Dimitri begs for his life, his pleas fall on deaf ears as Niko executes him. Later, Niko and Kate attend Roman's wedding, where an angry Pegorino, enraged at Niko's betrayal and the collapse of his business, unloads an assault rifle and kills Kate McReary in a drive-by shooting. Later Niko, Little Jacob and Roman follow Pegorino's men to an abandoned casino, where Pegorino is hiding. Pegorino flees to Happiness Island in a boat, with Niko, Jacob and Roman pursuing in a chopper. There, Niko kills Pegorino in front of the Statue of Happiness.

Personality
"You're a strange man. You killed your best friend. You betrayed everyone who ever came in contact with you. You killed my cousin. I guess...the survival of the fittest thing really meant a lot to you."

- Niko Bellic's final words to a dying Dimitri Rascalov.

Dimitri is the exact opposite of his former friend and crime lord Mikhail Faustin: while Faustin was hot-headed, dangerous, umpredictable, rude and a drug's addict, Dimitri is a stand-offish, clean, composed and rational sophisticated man, but extremely treacherous and greedy, willing to betray every of his allies in order to gain power over the Liberty City's underworld.

Dimitri is the embodiment of the Faux Affably Evil's archetype: at a glance, he appears eloquent and kind, even taking care of Roman after the latter was shot to the stomach by an angered Mikhail. However, all of this was a mere plan to manipulate Niko, whom is shocked by learning Dimitri's betrayal once the russian crime lord shows his true colors in Russian Revolution. Only Little Jacob foreshadowed this turn of events, as his gang is in competition with another clique of Russian mobsters. Niko tried first to reason Dimitri, but the latter retorted him that he "has so many enemies" among the city (including Ray Bulgarin, another mobster and Niko's former employer). Dimitri's sympathetic side completely disappeared once he kidnapped Roman and burnt his depot.

He shows several similarities with Frank Tenpenny, the main antagonist from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: both are egotistical megalomaniacs, wishing to take over their respective cities, band both see others as mere and disposable pawns, manipulating them in order to take over their foes and eventually betraying and killing them, and both are sadistic. However, Dimitri is not delusional, and fully aware of his evilness. Instead, he justifies his nefarious behavior by playing the rules of the game, and he even told Niko that "we can pick the game [...] but cannot change the rules", a quote that the latter will use against Playboy X.

This might signify that Dimitri totally disregards life's value and is quite nihilistic, which would explain his depravity. Also, Dimitri is much more cowardly and instead of facing the protagonist like Tenpenny was used to, Dimitri psychologically abuse and taunt Niko by phone, sending him for instance a pic of Roman tied.

He became increasibly paranoid, as Niko foiled all his plans. Incapable of getting rid of the serbian assassin, Dimitri made a morbid obsession about his nemesis, wishing at all cost to kill him or at least breaking him emotionally, by attacking his relatives and friends. He even, i n cold blood,   kills Pegorino in front of the player if the latter chooses the Deal ending. Such fixation became his demise, as Niko eventually faced and killed him in both endings.

Dimitri Rascalov's favorite radio station is Vladivostok FM.

Trivia

 * Dimitri is, by far, the worst villain and most crual antagonist from the HD-era of Grand Theft Auto.
 * Even if Niko's nemesis is Darko Brevic, who betrayed his squad long time ago and left Niko for dead, Dimitri plays as the Heavy because he had bigger plans than everyone else and appeared as the greatest threat for Niko and most of his relatives/friends, including Roman.
 * Like most characters in the game, Dimitri will don a unique helmet when riding alongside the protagonist on a motorbike. His helmet is green, with two white stripes along the temples.
 * Unlike most antagonists from Grand Theft Auto IV, Dimitri does not appear in its extensions. But he keeps playing an antagonistic role, as Ashley owes money to the russian crime lord, forcing Johnny to kidnaps Roman in order to save his girlfriend. Also, Dimitri can be mentionned at the end of The Ballad of Gay Tony by two unnamed mobsters.