Anatoly Cherdenko

"Come, comrade General. A new world order awaits!"
 * Cherdenko, asking General Krukov join with him and Dr. Zelinsky in time travel

Anatoly Cherdenko was the Premier of the Soviet Union during the World War III. He was directly responsible for the outbreak of the conflict by assassinating Albert Einstein with Dr. Gregor Zelinsky's time machine and creating an alternative timeline.

Anatoly Cherdenko was a senior officer in the Soviet army, placed to oversee a highly classified military project to develop and construct an experimential time machine. Twelve months later, the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse and the Premier of the USSR had cowardly fled from Moscow. Cherdenko invited his superior, General Boris Krukov, to the Kremlin and introduced him to Dr. Gregor Zelinsky, the scientist who had invented a functioning Soviet time machine. Cherdenko had decided to use time machine to create a new timeline, in which the Soviet Union had defeated the Allies and became the leading world power. Cherdenko, Krukov and Zelinsky traveled back in time to the 1927 Solvay International Physics Conference in Brussels, Belgium. To Zelinsky's horror, Cherdenko shaked hands with Albert Einstein, disintegrating him instantly and removing the greatest scientific mind of the time from space-time continuum.

Cherdenko, Krukov and Zelinsky returned to the present, in which Cherdenko was now the new Premier of the USSR and the unstoppable Soviet military machine was swarming to West Europe, because the Allies had no longer technological superiority provided by Einstein. Unfortunately, Cherdenko's arrogant deed had catastrophic consequences to space-time continuum, as Japan had became a militaristic superpower known as the Empire of the Rising Sun, whose Emperor Yoshiro was obsessed to achieve world domination. Without Einstein and his research, there was no nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union is soon invaded by the Japanese troops, equipped with futuristic weaponry.

Role in Red Alert 3
"I have chosen you to defend the USSR, in this difficult hour, because need a commander who does not believe in defeat! Someone who will not simply drive our enemies back, but ultimately annihilate them, humiliate them and show them now mercy!"
 * Premier Cherdenko to the Soviet Commander

In the Soviet perspective, the Soviet Union is attacked by the Empire of the Rising Sun. Premier Cherdenko orders the Soviet Commander to annihilate the Japanese invasion force and introduces him to General Krukov and intelligence officer Dasha Fedorovich. The Commander is placed to defend Leningrad and later Krasna-45, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese forces. Impressed by stunning victories over the Empire of the Rising Sun, Cherdenko sends the Commander to seize a captured naval base in Vladivostok. Supported by the mighty Soviet navy, the Commander drives the weakened Japanese troops from the Soviet territory. The Soviet Union is saved from utter desturction, but the newly-elected President of the United States, Howard T. Ackerman, promises to push the invading Soviet army from Europe. Recognizing Ackerman as "an ignorant fanatic who wants to wipe us [the Soviets] off the face of the Earth", Cherdenko sends the Commander to capture Geneva, Switzerland and an Allied science laboratory in Mykonos, Greece. However, mysterious assassins attempt to eliminate Cherdenko, but the Premier survives assassination attempt with minor injuries. Cherdenko announces he survived because his grandfather was a cossack, and "we cossacks are not so easy to kill." The Commander and General Krukov are send to Iceland to destroy the last Allied air base in Europe in the operation "No Traitors Tomorrow". Suddenly, Cherdenko orders the Commander to eliminate Krukov, who was presumambly the mastermind behind the failed assassination attempt. Krukov is killed and Cherdenko promotes the Commander to general.

As the Soviet perspective progresses, Dr. Zelinsky contacts the Commander and explains him that Cherdenko became the Premier by altering space-time continuum, before he mysteriously disappears. Cherdenko sends the Commander to Mount Fuji, Japan, to assassinate Emperor Yoshiro in the operation "To Tame A Living God". By eliminating the Emperor, the Empire of the Rising Sun is vanquished and Japan is annexed to the Soviet Union. Cherdenko invites Allied Supreme Commander Robert Bingham to sign a peace treaty between the Allies and the Soviet Union in Easter Island, but the Commander is ordered to ambush Bingham and his fleet in the operation "The Stone-Faced Witnesses". The ambush results in Bingham's death, but Cherdenko contacts the Commander and explains that the Commander was a useful pawn, used to exterminate the enemies of the Soviet Union. Cherdenko betrays the Commander and attempts to eliminate him by using the Vacuum Imploder, but the Commander destroys the superweapon and the Premier's volcano fortress. Cherdenko is reported to be killed in the destruction of his fortress. The Commander becomes the next Premier of the USSR who ultimately conquers the United States and defeats the Allies. Dasha confirms to the Commander that Cherdenko, in fact, framed his assassination attempt to have an excuse in killing General Krukov. Dasha suggests that Cherdenko was most likely responsible for Dr. Zelinsky's disappearance.

"''We won't stand for this treachery, Bingham! Do you hear me? My advisors warned me about trusting you Allies!"
 * Premier Cherdenko to Field Marshal Bingham

In the Allied perspective, Cherdenko is introduced to the Allied Commander as the Empire of the Rising Sun blocks all naval traffic in the Atlantic Ocean by the massive floating fortresses. Field Marshal Bingham allies with Cherdenko to destroy a Japanese naval base in Gibraltar and sink a floating fortress in the North Sea. However, President Ackerman activates his Super Secret Weapon in Mount Rushmore to obliterate Moscow, because he is convinced the Soviets are plotting to betray the Allies. Cherdenko contacts Field Marshall Bingham and announces that he will dissolve the pact between the Soviet Union and the Allies unless the superweapon is deactivated. As the Allied Commander is send to avert Ackerman's mindless attempt to level Moscow, Cherdenko contacts Commander and reminds him with the fact that the Soviets are prepared to attack the United States if the President is allowed to destroy the city. The Commander deactivates Ackerman's doomsday device and eliminates the President, allowing the Soviets and the Allies to launch a full-scale assault to Tokyo, Japan. General Krukov is supposed to arrive with his Soviet armada, but Cherdenko dissolves the pact, forcing the Allied Commander to destroy the Empire's military installations without any reinforcements.

As the Allied perspective progresses, Dr. Zelinsky defect to the Allies and explains Field Marshal Bingham that the existence of the Empire of the Rising Sun and the whole war were caused by Cherdenko, who traveled back in time to change the present. The Commander is send to investigate Soviet activity in Havanna, Cuba, where the Soviets are planning to attack every major Allied city in the world. With unquestionable evidence of Cherdenko's treachery, the Allied Commander is send to obliterate Cherdenko's fortress in Leningrad and bring the Premier to justice in the operation "The Moon Shall Never Have Them". However, Cherdenko is planning to escape "the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism – space." The Premier's space shuttle will launch from the fortress in the next 30 minutes. The fortress itself is protected by General Krukov's elite forces and shielded by seven Iron Curtains, turning it invulnerable to any physical damage. However, the Commander defeats General Krukov, destroys all Iron Curtains and decimates the fortress. Both Premier Cherdenko and General Krukov are imprisoned by the Allies and cryogenically frozen for committing crimes against humanity.

"I am the Premier! I control time!"
 * Premier Cherdenko to the Imperial Commander

In the Japanese perspective, it revealed to Emperor Yoshiro and Crown Prince Tatsu that the existence of the Empire of the Rising Sun was caused by the Soviets who meddled with time and space. Having lost his belief in the Empire's "divine destiny", Yoshiro grants his son the full authority over the shogunate. Tatsu sends the Imperial Commander to level Moscow and eliminate both Cherdenko and Krukov in the operation "Crumble, Kremlin, Crumble". With the Shogun Executioner and the full might of the Imperial military, the Commander vanquishes General Krukov and destroys the Kremlin, killing Cherdenko in the process. In his final moments, a horrified Cherdenko contacts the Commander and proclaims that he controls time. As the Kremlin collapses, the remaining Soviet forces attempt to save Zelinsky's time machine and use it to prevent the birth of the Empire of the Rising Sun. However, the Commander destroys the device, marking the end of the Soviet Union.

Behind the scenes

 * Anatoly Cherdenko was played by Tim Curry, best known for his role as Dr. Frank N. Furter in the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.