Artyom Kuzmich was born in Kirovograd in 1997 to a poor miner’s family of three, and named after his own father.

His father was born in Stary Yar Chernaurus, and his mother was born in Britain. His sister, Arisha Kuzmich, had been born four years prior to his conception, and he had always looked up to her. Their parents had separated, alternating between his sister and him each year, though he had not grown enough to understand. At the age of 4, his mother had passed away from breast cancer, and his father used the money received to give him and his sister a home in Kirovograd. His own sister would eventually serve the Chernarussian auxillary military at the age of eighteen, with him following in her footsteps soon after.

After signing up and serving briefly in the Chernarussian military in 2015 to serve both his country and provide for his immediate family, his sister would be killed in action during a brief skirmish with insurrectionists, his father would fall ill and die of natural causes during an especially harsh winter, and the decline of his political faction would eventually push him to make the decision to leave his post and Chernarus entirely to wander. He would eventually enlist into the PMC organization known as Northwinds Task Force after meeting a close ally of his and agreeing to serve with them, and rose through the ranks with the experience he already had to serve in Nyheim.