| “ | Ah, Marko! | „ |
| ~ Padorin, seeing a letter from his late niece's husband. |
Yuri Ilyich Padorin was a minor antagonist in the book The Hunt For Red October and the movie based upon the novel. He was portrayed by Peter Zinner.
In the early 1980s Padorin was an Admiral in the Soviet Navy, commanding the northern fleet. He was the uncle of Natalia Ramius and her husband Marko was one of his top submarine commanders. Natalia died in 1983 due to complications from ovarian cancer, which had been made worse due to the incompetence of the doctor treating her. The doctor could not be sanctioned due to family connections. This, the callousness the Soviets treated him and sailors with, and concerns that the new Typhoon-class ship Red October could destabilize world relations led Marko to decide to defect to the United States. .
Not content to simply slip away and give the submarine to the Americans, Marko sent his wife's uncle a letter announcing that he and a number of his fellow officers were defecting to the United States, and that he was not joking. The letter had the effect of committing Marko and his officer to their cause as they would be unable to return and explain away their odd behavior. The letter shocked Padorin, who dropped the tea he had been drinking while going through his mail. Absorbing what the letter said, Padorin contacted Premier Konstantin Chernenko and demanded an immediate meeting with the Soviet leader.
Following the meeting Padorin dispatched the bulk of the Soviet fleet with orders to find the Red October and sink her. The NSA intercepted the orders, allowing them to see right through Ambassador Lysenko's attempt to spin the Soviet activity as a massive rescue operation.
Aware of their combat tactics, having trained many of the officers sent after him, Marko was able to avoid the Soviets and reach the Americans. After defeating Captain Viktor Tupolev and GRU agent Igor Loginov, CIA agent Jack Ryan predicted that Padorin and many others in the Soviet government would have "hell to pay" for allowing the defection to occur.