Vladimir Glebov

Vladimir "Vlad" Glebov (Russian: Владимир Глебов) (1967 - 2008) was a major character in Grand Theft Auto IV, appearing early during GTA IV's storyline. He was a member of the Faustin Family, below Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov. He is the first antagonist in the game.

Description
Vlad is prominently a 41-year old Russian loan shark operating in Hove Beach, Broker. Feudalistic in his mannerism, he tends to group people into social classes and treat lowly people as "serfs", who are obligated to do his bidding; as he is a selfish hypocrite. Vlad prefers to call Niko Bellic a "yokel" or "Fatty Roman's Cousin" instead of his actual name, but fails to successfully dominate Niko due to Niko's witty defiance, with he and Roman calling him "Vladdy" or "Vladdy Boy" back. Glebov owns a Russian bar called Comrades in the neighborhood, and drives a sky blue Marbelle, as seen in the cut-scene for Clean Getaway and the chase sequence in Uncle Vlad. It is implied that Vlad is a heavy drinker, abuses cocaine, and is a womanizer.

Glebov also attempts to increase his status with the other Russian gangsters like Mikhail Faustin by doing collections for them. He is very vain, even though Faustin thought he was useless. He also employs Niko, initially to help enforce his protection racket but also for low-level assassinations, including that of Ivan Bytchkov. He also threatens Roman constantly and regularly fails to protect him from the Albanian Mafia, despite promises to the contrary. Early during his appearance, Glebov is been depicted attempting to coax Mallorie Bardas to abandon Roman in favor of him, with very limited success.

Death
After Niko learns that Vlad has been having an affair with Mallorie Bardas behind Roman's back, Niko confronts Vlad at Comrades Bar. After a brief chase through the neighborhood, Niko shoots Vlad in the left eye under the Algonquin Bridge before tossing his corpse into the Humboldt River, ignoring the fact that his boss, Mikhail Faustin, will certainly track down the man responsible for his murder. Mikhail later admits that Vlad was an idiot, and the only reason he was still been employed in his organization was that Mikhail "fucks his (Vlad's) sister." Since Vlad has not been found after being killed, the LCPD database lists him as "missing".

Mission appearances

 * GTA IV
 * It's Your Call
 * Easy Fare
 * Bull in a China Shop (Boss)
 * Hung Out to Dry (Boss)
 * Clean Getaway (Boss)
 * Ivan the Not So Terrible (Boss)
 * Uncle Vlad (Killed)


 * The Lost and Damned
 * Credits (TLAD) (Killed)

LCPD database record
Surname: Glebov

First name: Vladimir

Age: 41

Place of Birth: Russia

Affiliations: Known associate of Mikhail Faustin.

Criminal record:
 * 2002 - Public Lewdness
 * 2003 - Sexual Assault
 * 2004 - Extortion

Notes:
 * Recently arrived in Liberty City from Russia.
 * Owner of Comrades bar in Hove Beach.
 * Connections with Mikhail Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov.
 * Believed to be well below Faustin and Rascalov in the criminal food chain.

Trivia

 * In Russia, the nickname for Vladimir is Vova and Vlad is for Vladislav. It may be that "Vlad" is just easier to pronounce for Americans.
 * Vlad is the first of his former employers that Niko kills.
 * During the mission Do You Have Protection?, Dimitri mentioned that Vlad was the debt collector in Faustin Family. It could be his official rank.
 * There is a reference to another Rockstar game in one of his lines: he said "Bang Bang, you are dead" to Niko. This is a reference to Vladimir Lem from Max Payne, who often said this.
 * In the opening cutscene of It's Your Call, Vlad threatens Niko by saying that he would cut his head off and post a video of it on the internet if he wouldn't stop staring at him. This could be a reference to the graphic video where Russian neo-Nazis behead a person.
 * In Easy Fare, he threatens Niko again, saying he will "burst one of his eyeballs." Ironically, this is the way he is executed in Uncle Vlad.
 * Although Vlad is Russian, he uses the same term for cabbages in the joke he tells to his buddies at Comrade's in Uncle Vlad that Roman uses in the opening cutscene of The Cousins Bellic.
 * After Niko murders Vlad, the player will earn the trophy "Fed the Fish."
 * Later in the game, Mallorie calls Niko revealing that Roman took credit for Vlad's death, and thanks him for helping Roman dispose of Vlad's body. Rather than tell her what really happened, Niko plays along, calling Roman an old romantic.

Gallery
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