Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky in ‘GoldenEye’.

Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky is a fictional character in two of Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond films: GoldenEye and The World is Not Enough.

Biography: Zukovsky, played by Robbie Coltrane, is an ex-KGB agent turned Russian mafia head who runs a bar, a casino, and a caviar factory. When he was younger (and a KGB agent), a conflict with James Bond ended with Valentin being shot in the leg, as well as Bond stealing his car and “his girl”. Eventually, Valentin set up a meeting for Bond with Janus, in St Petersburg, Russia.

After leaving the KGB, Zukovsky initially held a grudge against James Bond , but this disappeared when dealing with Bond could make him a profit. He later made a fortune out of a beluga caviar factory. Bond figured a way to talk the information right out of Valentin: use Christmas Jones as a distraction. When Zukovsky saw Bond, he asked: “Can’t you just say hello, like a normal person”?

In The World Is Not Enough, his personal assistant and driver named Bullion debuts. Later, after Bullion was revealed to have worked with Elektra King, and set off a bomb in Valentin’s radio facility and former KGB safe house in Istanbul, Turkey (which he uses to try to contact his nephew Nikolai, whom is running a Victor 3 class submarine), Valentin shoots Bullion.

Zukovsky makes many appearances in the films, which before being shot and mortally wounded by Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough after Valentin tells Elektra King to give him the submarine key by saying “I’m looking for a submarine, it’s big, black, and the driver is a very good friend of mine! Bring it to me!”, but instead, she shoots Valentin through his nephew Nikolai’s hat. He lives long enough after being shot to execute a trick shot using a secret gun hidden within his own cane that allows James Bond to escape Elektra King’s trap.

There was a deleted scene in which Bond later checks Valentin’s pulse. Another scene cut out from the movie, is when Dr Warmflash takes Valentin in and finds out he was shot in the ribs, and she eventually gets the bullet out. It is unknown if he actually lived or died.

See also:

• Bond allies