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During the 1999 Russian Presidential elections, the two leading candidates are Igor Komarov (Patrick Bergin), a former Colonel of the KGB, and a retired General Nikolai Nikolayev (Joss Ackland). When a car bomb explodes outside one of Komarov’s pharmaceutical companies, and a virus is stolen from inside, an investigation by the FSB ensues. Heading the investigation are FSB agents Sonia Astrova (Annika Peterson) and her colleague Andrei Kasanov (Niko Nicotera). They come up against obstruction from the director of the FSB, Anatoly Grishin (Ben Cross).
A British Embassy worker from Moscow, Sir Nigel Irvine (Michael York), travels to southern Spain to try to find Jason Monk (Patrick Swayze), a former CIA operative, who ran double agents in the Soviet Union. Irvine tries to convince him to go to Moscow and investigate the Komarov Industries bombing. Eventually, after much persuasion, including the promisee of help in finding his Russian daughter, Monk agrees to go.
Once in Moscow, Jason finds an old friend, Viktor Akopov (Steve Speirs), whose brother Sergei, a double agent of Jason’s, was personally executed by Komarov. Viktor agrees to hide Jason from Komarov’s men. Pretending to be a friend of Sonia Astrova’s father, he gains access to her office and steals a sample of residue from the bombing, which he gives to another friend of his, Vladimir Tonkin (Valentin Ganev), a former scientist. Tonkin finds that the explosive used was Semtex H, with a direct traceable link to the FSB. When he tells Jason about his findings, he is killed by Vladimir Dorganosov (Tom Wlaschiha), the man who attacked Komarov industries and stole the bioweapon, who has since been released into a Muslim village in Dagestan.
Outgoing Russian president Cherkassov (Barry Morse) wants the biological situation in Dagestan to be dealt with internally, but later on, after much persuasion from Komarov and Grishin, he sends out an international alert to identity and contain the outbreak.
Sonia and Andrei locate Leonid Zaitzev (Theodor Danetti), a cleaner who worked at the Komarov Industries plant and saw Dorganosov steal the virus. He has gone on the run after his home was ransacked. As they question him, Grishin appears, arrests Zaitzev and fires Sonia and Andrei. Zaitzev is later killed by Dorganosov while in custody. Sonia goes home to find Jason waiting for her, and agrees to help him access the FSB network. However, they are shot at by Dorganosov, and a car chase ensues, with Dorganosov tracking them by using Sonia’s phone, until she discards it. They go to Andrei’s house, where they find him already dead.
After the chase, Dorganosov demands the rest of his payment from his contractor, who is none other than Anatoly Grishin. While they are arguing, Komarov himself arrives and orders Grishin to kill Dorganosov.
While at Viktor’s apartment, Jason and Sonia come to realise that Grishin knew about the bombing in advance, and they raid his house for information. Jason is injured and, while he is unconscious, Sonia locates his daughter Elena (Marta Kondova) and brings her to him.
While trawling through the information gained from Grishin’s computer, they come across a photograph which reveals that Grishin and Komarov are old friends; there is also a secret manifesto written by Komarov, which tells of his plans to unleash genocide on any "undesirables" in Russia. Jason realises that the bombing and the theft of the bioweapon were planned by Komarov from the beginning. The virus was released to look like a terrorist attack, allowing Komarov to be elected President, as the only candidate with an anti-terror campaign. It is also the beginning of the genocide.
Jason and Sonia go to Komarov’s Presidential opponent, General Nikolayev, who stages a press conference and tells of Komarov’s involvement in the bombing at his own facility. However, Grishin arrives and introduces Komarov, who tells of his coincidental ownership of vaccines to every virus in his facility. The move boosts Komarov’s popularity, and leads to his election.
Jason and Sonia confront Komarov’s American electoral hacker, Harvey Blackledge (Jeff Fahey), who tells them of a facility outside Moscow. Blackledge is subsequently killed by an assassin posing as a taxi driver. Jason and Sonia travel to the facility, and find that Komarov’s famous speech of "sun rays spreading across Russia" refers to his plans for genocide, with different viruses each targeting different ethnic minorities within the country. After battling to escape from the facility, Jason and Sonia find Victor dead in his apartment. Jason then travels to Elena’s house, where he is captured by Komarov’s men. After being interrogated by Grishin, he escapes with the help of Elena, and Sonia. Sonia kills Grishin and takes his phone, which allows them to locate the FSB agents spreading the viruses. After Jason secretly hands Grishin's phone to Sir Nigel, he orders the arrest of the rogue FSB agents. Komarov’s plan is revealed publicly, and riots ensue in the streets, calling for his resignation. Komarov, hidden from the public, instigates martial law. When he is spotted, he orders his men to fire into the crowd trying to get to him. Before they can fire, however, Nikolayev arrives and commands them to lower their weapons. The crowd storms the building; however, Komarov escapes down an alleyway, where he is confronted by Jason Monk and Sonia. As he tries to kill Jason, he is shot, and the crowd rushes in and kills him.
Nikolayev becomes the acting President, and Sonia is appointed head of the FSB. Jason moves back to Spain with Elena, and resumes his job hiring out a fishing boat.
suspenseful, murder, violence