Vladimir Glebov

"Tell this fucking yokel here if he doesn't stop staring at me, I'll have his head chopped off and put a film of it on the internet!"

- Vlad Glebov

Vladimir "Vlad" Glebov (Russian: Владимир Глебов) (1967-2008) is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as a main character in Grand Theft Auto IV, appearing early during the storyline.

Vlad was a member of the Faustin Family, below Mikhail Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov. Vlad was the first minor antagonist in GTA IV, until his death, his role was taken by Faustin, and later, Dimitri, who becomes the primary antagonist.

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.

Early life
Vladimir "Vlad" Glebov was born in 1967 in Russia. He has a sister. His childhood and teens life are mostly unknown. Sometime during the mid-to-late 1980s Vlad met Mikhail Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov, two mobsters that Vlad joined to their gang later. Vlad also became close worker to Ivan Bytchkov, a professional burglar of the Bratva. Vlad raised ranks in the Bratva until he became one of the most high ranking members, second only to Mikhail and Dimitri.

Liberty City
In the late 1980s, Vlad moved along with Mikhail, Dimitri, Ivan and most of thier associates to United States of America, setting in Liberty City and moving to Hove Beach. Vlad opened a bar called Comrades Bar, and hired a man calling Mickey as the bartander. Vlad was arrested in 2002 for public lewdness, in 2003 for sexual assault and in 2004 for extortion.

Sometime in 2005 Vlad met Roman Bellic, who was in debt for gambling. Vlad lended Roman a lot of money and since than he waiting that Roman will pay. Vlad started an affair with Mallorie Bardas, Roman's girlfriend.

Vlad also protected Roman from Dardan Petrela and Bledar Morina, two Albanians that Roman is in debt for them.

2008
In 2008 Vlad met Roman's cousin, Niko Bellic, and forced him to work for him in order to pay off Roman's debts. Vlad's work were, taking protection from a Chinese shopworker, and later from Muscovski, a laundromat owner. Vlad also told Niko to steal a Blista Compact from a man that didn't pay Mikhail. Vlad's last mission for Niko was to kill Ivan, who angered Mikhail. Niko can either kill or spare Ivan, the latter option making him appear in a random encounter later on. Niko called Vlad about the mission and Vlad revealed to Niko that he has an affair with Mallorie, making Niko very angry and threats him that he will break him if he says that to him in his face.

Death
After Niko learns that Vlad has been having an affair with Mallorie 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 had sexual intercourse with 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 and because Vova can be confused by Latin people for "boba", an informal word in feminine for stupid in Spanish.
 * 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.
 * 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 school romantic.
 * There is a possible reference to Vlad in a competing game, Saints Row 2. There is a commercial featuring a man named Vlad with an East European accent (Jason Zumwalt, the same voice actor that voices Roman), with hints that he is a human trafficker, and states that he is willing to have the player's family killed.
 * The only time Vlad appears outside of cutscenes is in the mission Uncle Vlad.
 * Vladimir Glebov shares his name with the youngest son of Lev Kamenev, a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. Vladimir Glebov was the name of Lev's youngest son, and the only immediate relative to survive after Lev's execution, as the rest of his family was executed as well.
 * As shown in the mission Clean Getaway, Vlad was an user of cocaine.

Gallery
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