Yuri Kosygin
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Yuri Kosygin is a fictional character on the HBO prison drama Oz, played by Olek Krupa.
He came to Oz in Season 3, serving life without parole for seven counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder, and illegal possession of a firearm. Even though Kosygin appears harmless, he is one of the most dangerous inmates in Oz. He came to America from Russia to find a better life for his family and, after struggling to make ends meet, got a job painting houses for a member of the Russian mob. The man abused and ridiculed Kosygin, who eventually killed him. Kosygin then earned a reputation for ruthlessness and was hired by the mob as an assassin. He is known as "the most brutal hitman in Little Odessa."
[edit] Season 3
When Kosygin first arrives in Oz, Antonio Nappa attempts to befriend him but Kosgyin rebuffs Nappa, putting him immediately at odds with the Italians. Chucky Pancamo approaches fellow Russian inmate Nikolai Stanislofsky to strong-arm him into apologizing for the insult. Stanislofsky tells Pancamo that Kosygin has no allegiance to him, and that the former hitman was widely feared in Russia, specifically by Jews.
Fellow inmate Ryan O'Reilly pays Kosygin to kill William Cudney in order to keep Cudney silent about O'Reilly spiking the water in a prison boxing tournament. Stanislofsky knows of O'Reilly's plot, and tells Pancamo that Kosygin spiked his water before a boxing match as a means of having the Italians eliminate him. At O'Reilly's suggestion, Pancamo tells Kosygin that Stanislofsky informed Pancamo of his involvement as a means of getting Kosygin sent to death row without the Italians being suspect. He then waits until he and Stanislofsky are alone in the the library and attempts to kill him with the sharpened temple pieces of his eyeglasses. Stanislofsky survives, and Kosygin is sent to Oz's segregated unit. He was not seen again on the show.
