Who is Vasili Ivanovitch Dunaev from We the Living and what is their importance?

Vasili Ivanovitch Dunaev is Marie's husband. Vasili doesn't want to move into the new life required in Russia, but rather, to live in the past. One of his greatest accomplishments, in his own mind, is that he's saved enough of the previous currency to pay off a particular debt. He doesn't work and refuses to have anything to do with the new regime. Vasili has lost all interest in life and is only waiting for a return of the days before the revolution. It isn't until Irina is arrested that Victor seems to come alive. He works to have his daughter and her husband sent to the same prison but is unsuccessful. It's Vasili's son, Victor, who is responsible for Irina's arrest, and Vasili tells Victor that he must intercede on Irina's behalf. When Victor refuses, Vasili takes his youngest daughter and abandons the world he has always known.