No Russian

"No Russian" is the fourth mission of the 2009 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and its 2020 remaster. In the mission, the player controls Army Ranger PFC Joseph Allen, who–whilst undercover for the CIA with the alias "Alexei Borodin" in an attempt to gain the trust of Russian ultranationalist terrorist Vladimir Makarov–participates in a mass shooting by Makarov's group at an airport in Moscow. The player may elect not to personally shoot any civilians and the mission may be skipped without penalty by selecting so before the mission commences and may skip the mission at any point during the mission. Iranian-American game designer Mohammad Alavi was heavily involved in the mission's development. Alavi wanted the mission to serve as a catalyst for the game's plot, and create an emotional connection between the player and Makarov. Much of the mission's development was spent designing the massacre portion, which Alavi did not want to feel too contrived or traumatic. Members of the game's development team were polarized in their opinions of the mission; several game testers expressed disapproval, including one who refused to play it at all. "No Russian" is noticeably more graphic than any other mission in the game. It sparked significant controversy for allowing players to directly participate in a terrorist mass killing, and became a heavily discussed subject in both gaming publications and major news publications. Due to the mission’s graphic content, the game was subject to censorship in some countries, including the entire removal of the mission from Russian versions. Journalists at the time described its plot as illogical and claimed that the ability to skip it rendered it pointless, but have since discussed its importance to the video game industry.