Before the Island
Bakunin grew up in Kiev and joined the Soviet Army, serving at some point as a soldier in Afghanistan and becoming familiar with field medical treatments. He eventually stationed at a military listening post in Vladivostok, as well as performing years of unpleasant actions in the service of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, his military unit was decommissioned and he was released from the Soviet Army. At the age of 24, he replied to a newspaper advertisement titled "Would you like to save the world?" and was recruited by a "magnificent man." He eventually ended up arriving on the Island around 1993. Before he was revealed as being one of the Others, he had claimed he was a member of the DHARMA Initiative but later confessed that this was not true. ("Enter 77")
from: Lostpedia

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