Oleg Lopatin

Oleg Lopatin is a major character in Harry Turtledove's novel A World of Difference, in which the planet Mars is replaced by a planet closer to the Earth known as Minerva. Because of the difference in orbital position, Minerva proved able to support life. In 1976, the US Viking I probe discovered the planet was inhabited by a primitive alien race with a feudal-like society, though their technology is Neolithic, except for the fact that they also widely built structures out of ice, as the temperature never got above freezing.

This resulted in the US and USSR competing to reach the planet. Back on Earth, the second space race resulted in the perpetuation of the Cold War, further exaccerbated by the death of Mikhail Gorbachev from a stroke. In 1984, both US and Soviet missions landed on Minerva.

On board the Soviet shuttle Tsiolovsky was Oleg Lopatin, along with five others. Lopatin was a former KGB agent, and was fanatically loyal to the Soviet Union and Marxist ideals. Unlike the rest of the crew, who considered the possibility of cooperating with the Americans, Lopatin distrusted them, and openly spied on his fellow crew members. When the Russians were taken in by a Minervan domain master, Hogram of the Skarmer clan, he learned that he was planning to fight a war against the domain master supported by the Americans. In spite of the fact that Hogram was a proto-capitalist, Oleg still wished to give as much support to Hogram as possible- when Hogram forced the Russians to give one of the AK-74s on shuttle, Oleg volunteered to train the Minervans in the use of the weapon. Oleg supported the proto-capitalists, as according to the writings of Karl Marx, they were still more progressive than the US-supported feudalists of Reatur.

Oleg accompanied the army of Fralk, the grandson of Hogram, across the Ervis Gorge, out of communications range from the Tsiolovsky. There, a Minervan named Juksal killed an American astronaut, Frank Marquard. Upon returning to Skarmer fortress, Oleg realized the Soviets would be blamed Marquard's death, a situation that threatened to spiral into nuclear war.

Lopatin realized that, in order to prevent this, he had to defect to the crew of the American shuttle Athena. Oleg attempted to escape the Skarmer in the night, but he was apprehended and force to go into battle alongside Fralk, who took his AK-74 and used the weapon to kill numerous warriors of Reatur's armies near his fortress.

Oleg and Fralk were both killed when American astronaut Sara Levitt dropped an incendiary bomb from light aircraft known as the Damselfly, halting the attack.