The Strange Absence—and Presence—of Russia in GTA III
For a game as rich in satire and cultural references as Grand Theft Auto III (2001), the near-total absence of Russian influence is striking. Liberty City is Rockstar’s take on New York, a city with one of the largest post-Soviet diasporas in the world. From Brighton Beach, nicknamed "Little Odessa," to Eastern European criminal syndicates operating in the shadows, Russian influence is an inescapable part of New York’s history and criminal underworld (1).
And yet, in GTA III, there is no Russian Mafia, no Slavic gangsters, no gunrunners with Kalashnikovs flooding the streets. Unlike GTA IV, which fully embraces the post-Soviet underworld with Niko Bellic and the Russian Bratva, GTA III barely acknowledges Russia’s existence. But when it does, the references are either wildly inaccurate or played for comedic exaggeration—nowhere more obvious than in two moments: the FBI’s inexplicable use of the AK-47 and a Chatterbox FM caller ranting about toilet paper shortages in the Soviet Union.
The FBI’s AK-47: America's Most Wanted
One of the strangest Soviet references in GTA III isn’t a character or a location—it’s a weapon. In an absurd departure from reality, the FBI’s standard-issue rifle in the game is the AK-47—a gun synonymous with the Soviet Union and its revolutionary movements.
Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s, the AK-47 became the defining firearm of Communist militaries and insurgencies. It was wielded by the Red Army, exported to Soviet allies, and became a symbol of resistance against Western forces (2). In reality, the FBI has never used the AK-47. Their actual arsenal consists of American-made firearms, such as the Colt M4, MP5 submachine guns, and standard-issue Glock handguns (3). The sight of Liberty City’s FBI agents storming the streets with Soviet rifles is not just an oversight—it’s a complete impossibility.
The in-game model makes the situation even stranger. The weapon Rockstar labeled as an “AK-47” doesn’t even resemble a true AK. It more closely matches the Adler-Jäger AP-80, an Italian-made .22LR clone of the AK-47—an obscure gun that would have been significantly harder to reference than a real AKM or AK-47 (4). The decision suggests Rockstar’s modeling team either didn’t know the difference or didn’t care to check.
So why did the FBI get an AK-47? The most likely answer is game balance—the M16 (the game’s actual American assault rifle) was far more powerful, featuring a much faster fire rate, and was already assigned to the National Guard. Rockstar may have simply needed a weaker automatic rifle for the FBI and slotted in the AK-47 without much thought.
But there’s another possibility: it was a joke. GTA III is drenched in satire, and the idea of America’s most elite federal agents unknowingly wielding the gun most associated with their Cold War enemies fits Rockstar’s brand of irony. Whether intentional or not, the AK-47’s placement in the FBI’s hands is one of the game’s most bizarre contradictions.
Chatterbox FM Caller: Soviet Stereotypes lingering on in 2001
While the AK-47 is a quiet historical oddity, GTA III’s most direct Russian reference is loud and ridiculous. On Chatterbox FM, Liberty City’s unfiltered talk radio station, a caller delivers a rant that perfectly encapsulates Cold War-era American attitudes toward the former Soviet Union and also the new capitalist Russia:
“Ex-plo-i-ta-tion, man you bleeding hearts kill me! Johnny’s mine. He’s my kid. How can I exploit something I own? Exploitation... You sound like a communist! Kids in Russia - they don’t work! That’s why everything’s so messed up over there. You have to waste lots of toilet paper! And their space station? It was made out of milk crates.”
This over-the-top tirade reflects real Cold War propaganda. The idea that “kids in Russia don’t work” plays into the often-espoused conservative right-wing notion that communism bred laziness and inefficiency, an argument often pushed by Western media (5). The mention of toilet paper shortages references a well-documented problem in the late Soviet Union, when mismanaged production led to chronic scarcity (6). Even the “milk crate” space station jab is a direct hit at Mir, which had become infamous in the 90s for malfunctions and was often ridiculed in the West (7).
What makes these fleeting Russian references even stranger is just how little Russia appears in GTA III. Given New York’s real-life Russian mafia presence, Brighton Beach’s well-known immigrant community, and the flood of Soviet-era arms into the black market after the USSR’s collapse (8), it’s baffling that Liberty City completely ignores this element of the underworld. Real-life criminals like Marat Balagula serve as a fascinating example of the intersection between Russian and Italian organized crime in New York during the '90s. Balagula, a notorious figure within the Russian Mafia, was known for his involvement in various illicit activities—from extortion to smuggling—and his connections to the Italian Mafia. His story reflects the growing influence of Russian criminal syndicates in the city, which, over time, formed complex relationships with established Italian families. It’s a shame that GTA III didn’t delve deeper into this dynamic, as the absence of a prominent Russian Mafia presence in Liberty City feels like a missed opportunity. Drawing inspiration from real-life figures like Balagula could have added layers of authenticity to the game’s portrayal of a city where power struggles between various criminal factions were a reality, and even more so considering GTA III's main character having close ties to the Italian Mafia, like Balagula did.
Rockstar would later correct this—GTA IV placed Russian and Eastern European crime at the center of the narrative. Even GTA: San Andreas (2004) contained multiple nods to post-Soviet crime and the collapse of the Soviet Union, going as far as to feature a Russian Mafia faction, ex-Soviet pedestrians with Russian accents and multiple ads and radio shows mentioning Russia or the USSR. But GTA III, released at a time when Russian crime had already become a pop culture trope, remained strangely silent on the topic.
One possible explanation is timing. Released in 2001, GTA III was a product of a world that had shifted focus away from Russia. The War on Terror was beginning to dominate global attention, and Cold War tropes—while still present—were starting to fade from the public consciousness. Instead, Rockstar’s satire focused on the crime stories that dominated the late ‘90s and early 2000s—Italian mobsters, Colombian drug cartels, and corrupt American business and institutions.
Conclusion: A City That Forgot Its Russians
For a game set in a city based on New York, GTA III is strangely empty of Russian influence. When references to Russia do appear, they are either historically inaccurate (the FBI’s AK-47) or played for exaggerated satire (Chatterbox FM’s Cold War rant). It’s as if Russia exists only as a distant concept, something to be mocked from afar but not truly present in the world of Liberty City.
In later games, Rockstar would fully embrace the post-Soviet crime wave. But in GTA III, Russia is little more than a punchline—a ghost in a city where it should have loomed large. And in a game that helped define modern open-world storytelling, that might be one of its most fascinating omissions of all.
Grand Theft Auto III
Country: 
United Kingdom
Initial release: October 22, 2001
Platforms: PS2, Android, PS4, PS3, Windows, Xbox, iOS, Mac OS, Fire OS
Awards: Golden Joystick Award
Composer: Craig Conner
Genres: Open world, Action-adventure, Racing, Third-person shooter, Nonlinear gameplay
Developers: Rockstar North, Grove Street Games
Publishers: Rockstar Games, Capcom, Buka Entertainment, Soft Club, ak tronic
About: Grand Theft Auto III marked the series' transition to 3D, introducing players to the crime-ridden streets of Liberty City, a setting inspired by New York City. The story follows Claude, a silent protagonist betrayed during a heist who seeks revenge by navigating a dangerous underworld of crime, gangs, and corruption. With an open-world design played from a third-person perspective, players can explore the city on foot or by vehicle.
References
- Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative. (n.d.). Brighton Beach: Little Odessa. Retrieved March 15, 2025, from brooklynjewish.org/neighborhoods/brighton-beach/
- McMaken, R. (2021). The AK-47 and the Soviet Dream. The National Interest. Retrieved from nationalinterest.org
- FBI. (n.d.). What kinds of guns do FBI agents use? Retrieved March 15, 2025, from fbi.gov/about/faqs/what-kinds-of-guns-do-fbi-agents-use
- IMFDB. (n.d.). Grand Theft Auto III. Retrieved March 15, 2025, from imfdb.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III
- National Geographic. (n.d.). Ally or enemy? American perceptions of the Soviet Union. Retrieved from nationalgeographic.com
- Risen, C. (2025, March 17). The red scare revisited. The New Yorker. Retrieved from newyorker.com
- Wikipedia. (n.d.). Mir space station. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir
- Wikipedia. (n.d.). Marat Balagula. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat_Balagula