ALEXANDER KARSOV

Alexander Ivanovich Karsov was a Russian dissident. He had once led a civil rights protest in Moscow, and he was a candidate for the Nobel Prize, which made him a target of the Soviet government. He was also a friend of Pete Thornton, who was helping him to move letters from political prisoners to friends and relatives outside Russia, which led to Karsov's arrest for spying. As a political prisoner he was secretly placed in a state psychiatric hospital near Leningrad, and it was announced that he had died. If there were no social protest, he would be killed.

Karsov knew that his activities put his daughter Marya in danger, and he had pleaded for her to leave the country, but she had refused. When Pete Thornton received word that Marya was about to be arrested, he flew to Russia, and MacGyver followed him. Together the three of them hatched a plan to free Karsov from his imprisonment.

To gain entrance to the hospital, Pete portrayed Dr. Torin, and there he met Dr. Natalya Petrovich, who saw to the psychiatric patients, and the sadistic Dr. Suvarin who dealt with the political prisoners. MacGyver portrayed Dr. Torin's schizophrenic patient, and he was admitted to Ward K, where he met other patients and prisoners including Dimitri, Lopat, and Chessmaster.

MacGyver was able to pick the locks and sneak into Ward Zero, where Karsov was being held, and to hide him back in Ward K with the other patients. Meanwhile, Pete confiscated a sedative drug which Marya added to the employees' tea. With the doors unguarded and the staff inattentive, Alexander Karsov was free to walk out of the facility, along with Natalya Petrovich and many of the patients.

After his release, Karsov urged his daughter to go to America for her own safety, but he was not meant for exile, and he insisted on remaining in Russia to continue his work to change the government.

Portrayed by: Cross Reference: Chessmaster, Dimitri, Marya Karsova, Lopat, Natalya Petrovich, Soviet Union, Dr. Suvarin, Pete Thornton Episode Reference: A Prisoner of Conscience

Portrayed by: Larry Dobkin

Cross Reference: Boris, Chessmaster, Dimitri, Marya Karsova, Lopat, Natalya Petrovich, Soviet Union, Dr. Suvarin, Pete Thornton

Episode Reference: A Prisoner of Conscience