Vassili Barkowich, also known as Barkow or Bark, was the Chechen's right hand and best friend.
However, they distanced after a disagreement about his deal with the Joker, and after the Chechen's death, he started to take over his territory, decided, among many things, to stop the Batman. Given that many men wanted that terrritory, Barkow arranged a series of assasinations that left him without competition.
Early Life[]
Barkow was born in Syktyvkar, Russia (USSR), in 1961. His father was an officer in the Soviet Red Army and forced him to follow his steps. Unable to accept discipline, Barkow was quicly expelled and thrown into jail due to a savage attack to a police officer in Moscow. Dissapointed by the way of life in the communist world, Barkow set his mind to escaping his imprisonment and his country. During his time in jail he bacame popular because he was good at getting things and doing favour for other convicts, that's when he realized he was a leader and could become powerful somewhere else. After leaving prison he escaped the Soviet Union by crossing the Berlin Wall and not getting captured. He arrived in Paris and with a fake ID took a boat to America in 1982.
Entering the Crime World[]
Living in the United States, and with an honest job, Barkow became quicly dissapointed by the falsehood of the so called "American Dream". This lead him to contact and join the russian underworld in Gotam under a man called "The Chechen", helping him with his war against "The Russian".
Peace Accord with the Russian[]
Seeing that there was no point in russians kiling russians in America, he then manipulated Carmine Falcone's followers into attacking them. Raged by this attacks, the Russian and the Chechen arranged a ceasefire, and cooperation when dealing with the italians. This marks the beggining of the Russian's war against Falcone, which almost claimed his life, and then Maroni. Nevertheless, the Russian broke the pact when he found out that the Chechen had made peace and befriended Maroni and Gambol.
The Chechen's Right Hand[]
After the accord, the Chechen, suspecting Barkow's involvement, and knowing his capabilities, made him his right hand and advisor. He also did this suspecting Barkow could be planning to cease what was his (which was true) and therefore keep hin on a leash.
The Chechen's Death[]
When the Chechen and Maroni "hired" the Joker, Barkow immediately dissapeared, suspecting the Joker's real intentions. After the Chechen was killed by the Joker's goons, and the Reign of Terror was over, Barkow returned to Gotham to take over his late boss' territories. Knowing that 3 other Chechen's followers wanted them (Valko Ikarov, Dimitri Komi, and Grutas Kolomnya), Barkow contacted one of the Joker's maddest followers (Aaron Russell) and payed him a lot of money to kill all three. Russell succeded and would remain as one of Barkows closest goons for a long time.