Anatoli Knyazev

### Early Life

Anatoli Knyazev grew up in the Soviet Union. He was grown into Bratva at a young age. As a 13-year-old boy, Anatoli was a lookout for Bratva.

Knyazev worked under the man known as "Yuri The Bear" who trained Anatoli and taught him how to hide in the shadows.

### KGB

Anatoli joined the Soviet military and later the KGB. In the KGB, Knyazev worked under The Hammer. A cell of the KGB. He was trained to become one of the best of their operators. Even being called KGBeast by some in the KGB.

Anatoli Knyazev was one of the most secret agents in the KGB because of his training. He went from a normal man into one of the deadliest operatives in the Soviet Union.

### Lian Yu

At some point after leaving the KGB, Anatoli Knyazev was stranded on Lian Yu. The same island as Oliver Queen. Here, Oliver and Anatoli became friends while being on the island. The two decided to meet again in the future when Anatoli was able to get off the island.

### Bratva

Anatoli returned to Russia to once more join Bratva. At this point, Yuri had died. Anatoli met Alexi Leonov. Another member of Bratva. The two got to know each other, but Anatoli never really liked the man.

During this time in Bratva, Anatoli went up against Konstantine Kovar who controlled the entire city where Anatoli operated. Knyazev went to war against Kovar and was nearly beaten when Oliver Queen returned and helped Bratva. Within a few weeks, Oliver became a member of Bratva. With Oliver's help, Bratva was able to defeat Kovar and both Oliver and Anatoli became captains because of it.

When Oliver left Russia, Anatoli kept on working hard in Bratva. Even sending Aleksi to Star City to assist Oliver when needed. After months, Oliver returned needing Anatoli's help. This would go against Bratva, but Anatoli decided to help only because Oliver was a brother to him. This ended with Oliver succeeding in his mission while Knyazev's whole Bratva operation was slaughtered and Anatoli was thrown out of Bratva.

### KGBeast

Anatoli was later found by the Russian government who wanted to create a super-soldier. They gave Anatoli cybernetic enhancements which made him into a ruthless killer. The government then sent Anatoli to Gotham City where he was to assassinate a US senator. During this, Knyazev's codename "KGBeast" returned. Batman tried to stop KGBeast but failed. Nevertheless, Anatoli learned that the Russian government was behind the slaughter of his Bratva operation and not Oliver Queen's enemies. This led to Anatoli killing everyone on the super-soldier project. Even destroying all the research from it.

After this, KGBeast returned to the US as he was paid by Lex Luthor to hold Martha Kent captive. Once again, Anatoli went up against Batman. This time though, Batman won and beat Anatoli. Sending him to Blackgate Penitentiary.

After only a few months, Oliver Queen came to Blackgate to meet Anatoli Knyazev. The two talked and Oliver broke Anatoli out. Telling him he got a second chance.

### Retirement

Anatoli returned to his life with the business but this time not, within Bratva. He tried to do business legally. But Richard Dragon came and tortured Anatoli until he told him who the Green Arrow really was. It took a week of torture for Antaoli to finally tell Dragon that Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow.

Anatoli then helped the SCPD and Team Arrow to stop Richard Dragon. He was able to and later decided to go back to Russia. During this, Anatoli also attended Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance's wedding.

### Nightwing Contract

When Anatoli had finally settled down in Russia, he was met by Bane. Bane told him that he would get enough money to live the rest of his life as a rich man if he killed Nightwing. Anatoli refused to but Bane came with another offer. He could give Anatoli the location of his sister. This time, Anatoli decided to help and once more became KGBeast.

Anatoli returned to Gotham City with fake alias and searched for Nightwing. He orchestrated a set of events to draw Nightwing out. Batman and Nightwing were on a rooftop searching for The Riddler who KGBeast made sure they believed was operating in Gotham again when Anatoli took a shot with a sniper into Grayson's head. Believing Nightwing died, Anatoli left and got to meet Bane. But Bane didn't have any information about his sister. This led to them fighting before Anatoli left and told the GCPD he was the one who killed Nightwing. He learned Nightwing had survived the shot and was put in a specially made prison for supervillains.