Solntsevskaya Bratva

"I'm Bratva."

- Oliver Queen

Solntsevskaya Bratva (Russian: Солнцевская братва), or simply the Bratva, is a powerful Russian Mafia organization. Oliver Queen is one of the highest-ranking members (a captain), due to the fact that he saved Anatoly Knyazev, the leader of the Bratva, from Anthony Ivo during his time on Lian Yu.

History
In his last year before returning home Oliver met Anatoly while he was in Russia, trying to kill Konstantin Kovar.

Anatoly told him that the only way to get Kovar was with the help of the Bratva. So Oliver decide to go through the initiation to become a member and use Bratva ressources.

The initiation includes 3 steps that one must pass, after surviving a violent beating from the other members:


 * 1) Fight Bratva members and be the first to ring a bell placed behind them. The meaning of this this test is to test your intellect and to create a strategy to pass to pass the obstacles. Those who fail to ring the bell are killed.


 * 1) Trust your comrades with a knife while they cut your back. The meaning of this test is to trust that your brothers will not kill you.


 * 1) You must perform a hit successfully. The meaning of this test is to do as you are told. Bratva members will be able to trust you if the results of the hit are good.

Oliver passed the test and gain a few new scars along the way. During the ceremony Oliver had to proclaim his loyalty by stating "I have no home, no Family, no name, I'm Bratva".

The group was shown to operate, within itself, on the basis of immediate reciprocal favors, although how the value of these is judged has not been revealed. For example, to get a meeting with The Count through Alexi Leonov, Oliver is asked to kill a disobedient underling of Leonov. Anatoly Knyazev, in Moscow, seems to act primarily out of friendship for Oliver, rather than according to this code, although he does expect Oliver to provide his own finance.

Due to his fallout with Alexi, Oliver doesn't expect to still be a member, although it is not confirmed whether or not he is still considered a member by Anatoly.

Known members

 * Ishmael Gregor (leader)
 * Anatoly Knyazev (leader, Moscow)
 * Alexi Leonov (deceased)
 * "The Mechanic"
 * Klaus Markos
 * Viktor (leader, Krasnoyarsk)
 * Yuri (leader; in 1986)

Ambiguous members

 * Oliver Queen (captain)

Trivia

 * "Bratva" (братва) is an informal variant of the word "brotherhood" in Russian, usually used by gangsters (while "bratstvo" (братство) is a formal variant).

Behind the scenes

 * Bratva is a nickname used in Russian to describe gangsters in general.
 * Solntsevskaya Bratva is a real criminal organization, recognized as the biggest and most powerful crime syndicate of the Russian mafia. The Solntsevskaya gang was founded in the late 1980s by Sergei Mikhailov, a former waiter who had served a prison term for fraud. Based out of the Solntsevo District of Moscow, the gang recruited local unemployed, aggressive young men as foot soldiers and also made use of the "thief in law" Dzhemal Khachidze to enhance their reputation amongst established criminals.
 * The symbol of the organization is a tattoo of a black sun. It is referenced in the name of the organization ("Solntsevskaya" would refer to the district of Solntsevo – "Sun City", which may mirror "Star City", since the Sun is also a star). Interestingly, the black sun is a symbol used by a number of historical and contemporary nationalist movements in Europe.