| “ | You are professional, you do not kill without reason. | „ |
| ~ Pushkin to Bond, whilst held at gunpoint. |
General Leonid Pushkin (Russian: Леонид Пушкин) is a major character in 007’s movie The Living Daylights. He is a a fictional Soviet general and the successor of Anatol Gogol.
He was played by John Rhys-Davies; Cassim in Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Sallah in Indiana Jones movies, Sangimel in Fire and Ice: The Dragon Chronicles and Thornton in The Reef and it's sequel High Tide.
History[]
Soviet "deserter" Georgi Koskov, informs MI6 that the KGB ("Death to Spies") is back in action thanks to General Leonid Pushkin, the new leader. Koskov is later kidnapped in his shelter and it is assumed that he is now in Moscow. M orders Bond to find Pushkin and kill him before he kills other agents, although Bond doubts what Koskov said, even after the murder of 004 with the same message left "Smert Spionam.".
Meanwhile, Pushkin meets Brad Whitake, the arms dealer, in Tangier who informs him that the KGB has canceled the sale with Koskov and Whitaker. Bond arrives in his hotel room when he was about to spend time with his mistress, Rubavitch. Pushkin explains the truth to him: the KGB deactivated Smert Spionam decades earlier and Koskov denies the arrest of weapons and so the two agree and devise a plan.
Bond pretends to kill Pushkin while he is speaking at a trade convention in Tangier, while he wears a kevlar vest and blood pack to fool Necros. Bond later rescues Pushkin from Necros.
When Bond returns to Tangier to finish Whitaker, Pushkin helps him by shooting Sergent Stagg. And his men take away Koskov who are happy that he is alive, with Whitaker dead, Pushkin renames Moscow and improves it as "in a diplomatic bag". Pushkin later apparently helps Bond with his love interest, Kara Milovy, but in reality, she had been Koskov's unwitting pawn and amnestied her.
Trivia[]
- General Pushkin's name is a slight in joke. Both Gogol ans Pushkin are great Russian-language writers.
