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This article's subject relates to Season 8 of 24.

Sergei Petrovich Bazhaev was the leader of the extremely secretive Russian crime syndicate Red Square, and was employed through a cabal of Russian conspirators to assist the Kamistan splinter cell in both the assassination plot against President Omar Hassan and the sale of nuclear fuel rods to the cell. He had two sons, Josef and Oleg Bazhaev.

Before Day 8[]

Bazhaev was born 61 years before Day 8 in Ukraine. As a child, he witnessed the KGB throw a family including two small children from the roof of a building. He served in the Soviet army for several years before turning to a life of crime. He rose the ranks of the Moscow based crime syndicate Red Square. It was while in Moscow he met his future wife, Anna Ivanovna, the daughter of a Russian banker.

He served twelve years of his life in a Russian labor camp. He had lived in the United States since 1985.

Day 8[]

Sergei ran his criminal operation from a restaurant in Upper New York along with his son. He was in close contact with Farhad Hassan, the brother of the President of Kamistan. Together they conspired to assassinate President Hassan before a peace treaty could be reached between their country and America, as well as the sale of nuclear rods. Sergei had his network of criminals, including assassin Davros, to carry out the hit, which ultimately ended in failure. However, because his men were killed and there was nobody to talk, he continued with his deal to sell the rods. He met with Farhad shortly before 8:00pm to make the deal, and showed him his younger son Oleg, who was dying of radiation poisoning, to prove the rods were real.

While Farhad was talking to his supporters back in Kamistan, Josef confronted his father and asked him what he intended to do with Oleg. Josef pleaded with Sergei that his younger brother needed medical attention and that he knew of a clinic where they could bring him. Sergei told him that bringing Oleg to a clinic would put the authorities on their trail and ruin everything. Instead, Sergei allowed Josef to take Oleg to the country house where he would be taken care of by Ulana. Next, he spoke to Farhad, who told him that his money would be given to him within five hours. Sergei then called two girls into the room to take care of his guest in order to pass the time before the nuclear rods were handed over.

8x06 Disobey

"Never disobey me again"

When Sergei learned from Ulana that his two sons hadn't arrived at the country house yet, he called Josef several times to no avail. Finally, Josef answered and assured his father that they were on their way, but were caught in traffic. Sergei told him to call him the moment he arrived at the house. Unknown to Sergei, Josef had taken Oleg to the medical clinic to treat his radiation poisoning. Sergei sent out his main trigger-man Dimitri and his hit-squad to track his sons and return them. After tracking them to a private doctor's office, they murdered three of the medical staff, including Dr. Levine to cover their tracks. Sergei had them brought back to his restaurant, where he scolded Josef for disobeying his orders and threatening their family. Josef responded that he was only trying to save his younger brother and though he respects his father, Sergei was wrong to let Oleg die. Sergei struck his eldest son, angrily telling him that losing his son isn't easy for him. He retrieved a pistol and aimed it at Josef, furious that his son would jeopardize everything they had worked for. Josef backed away and pleaded with his father not to shoot him. At the last moment, Sergei turned the gun on Oleg and shot his youngest son dead. He then kissed Josef on the cheek and told him never to disobey him again.

8x07 Oleg Dead

Sergei takes Father Gregor to Oleg's body.

He and his men went to a church, where he insisted upon a private burial of his dead son a little before 11:00pm. Father Gregor questioned him about having a private ceremony at such a late time without any certification. Sergei explained that he didn't care what happened to him in the afterlife, but he wanted his son to be "with the angels", and ordered him to proceed. Sergei then confronted Josef for the first time about the killing of his brother. He explained that he could not stand to see Oleg in such pain anymore, and that his actions were also to benefit Josef, so he could have an easy future in life.

Later he was called by mid-level gangster, Vladimir Laitanan, who asked him about purchasing the same nuclear fuel rods he was smuggling in. Sergei, concerned that his operation had been leaked, ordered his smugglers to stop their 18-wheeler and dispatched Dimitri to find and bring back Vladimir for questioning. In the meantime, he oversaw his only surviving son and henchmen as they dug a grave for Oleg.

Dimitri returned to the restaurant with news that Laitanan was dead and instead they had captured a man claiming to be a German arms dealer named Ernst Meier. Sergei questioned the man, who was in fact Jack Bauer, and demanded to know where he had received his information about the nuclear fuel rods and who he worked for. Bauer replied that he couldn't reveal the names of his clients but that his information came from someone working with Farhad. Sergei wondered aloud that Bauer was really a cop and instructed Dimitri to torture the truth out of him.

As Sergei left Dimitri to his work, Josef informed his father that Oleg was buried and presented his brother's golden cross necklace. Sergei had given Oleg the necklace for his confirmation. Sergei told his only remaining son to keep it, in remembrance of his lost brother. With Josef as his side, Sergei then confronted Farhad about the leak regarding the nuclear fuel rods. Farhad claimed the leak was impossible and was furious when Sergei informed him that he was halting the shipment of the rods until he learned everything that Meier knew. When Farhad became confrontational and accused Sergei of failure in their business arrangement, Josef put a gun to the man's head and warned him not to speak in that way to his father. Realizing that he had worn out his host's hospitality, Farhad left Sergei's restaurant to rendezvous with his men in anticipation of the delivery of the rods.

8x08 Jack Sergei

Jack offers Sergei a deal.

Eventually, Bauer overpowered and killed Dimitri while being tortured and alerted CTU to his location. Sergei was upstairs in the restaurant when Bauer tried to shoot his way out of the building and engaged in a gun battle with the Russian crime boss. Eventually, Bauer slammed an overturned table into Sergei and knocked him unconscious. Moments later, Sergei was taken into custody and questioned by Bauer. Sergei lamented that he should have killed Bauer when he had the chance since he was right that he was a cop. He became emotional when speaking about killing Oleg like a dog, as his youngest son had died for nothing. He finally revealed the location of the rods to Bauer and CTU after receiving immunity for himself and Josef from President Allison Taylor.

When CTU arrived at the truck rest stop where the rods were being held, they found Sergei's men had been shot and killed and that the rods were missing. When they reported back that a golden cross necklace had been found in the truck, Sergei realized that Josef had betrayed him.

Fearing for his son's life, Sergei helped Bauer track down Josef by calling his son and telling him to break off his deal with Farhad. He pleaded with his only son, who expressed anger with his father for wasting Oleg's life for business. With Bauer's help, Sergei convinced Josef to leave the rendezvous point and hand over the nuclear rods to CTU. Just as Josef was about to comply, he was shot dead by Samir Mehran. Distraught with the death of both of his sons, Sergei was transported back to CTU for interrogation.

With his immunity deal revoked due to his failure to help CTU recover the fuel rods, Sergei was later arraigned in court for his part in the assassination plot, trafficking the nuclear rods, and Oleg's murder when he noticed Jack enter the court room and told his lawyer to request a five-minute recess. When Jack confronted him with Renee's murder, Sergei claimed to know nothing, but later relented and revealed the involvement of both the Russian Government and Dana Walsh when Jack threatened to kill what was left of his family. Afterwards, Sergei was taken away and Jack had Bazhaev's family put into protective custody.

Background information and notes[]

  • Bazhaev was addressed twice as Sergei "Petrovich" (during Day 8: 10:00pm-11:00pm by Vladimir Laitanan and Father Gregor). Petrovich was Bazhaev's common Russian "patronymic" middle name, and the two characters' usage of this address indicates both familiarity and respect.
  • Sergei is said to have come to the United States in 1985 and to have served in the Soviet Army. Before the end of the Cold War, few members of the Russian mafia had military or any sort of government experience.
  • Sergei is one of the few major antagonists who was arrested alive for his crime; it is rather typical for 24 antagonists to be killed off.

Live appearances[]

See also[]

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