Vasili von Holtz is the character Strahd incarnates from time to time.

I will expand on him

because I believe it should be in the book and because he completes Strahd's personality. If
you want to expand on Strahd's character, he is an easy way to make your party share time with
the Devil without really meeting him. I also advise you to read /u/guildsbounty's guide to running
Strahd like an unholy terror to better understand the Count and his tactics.

Who is Vasili?
Artwork found on the internet to give you an idea:

https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/images/4217493/vasili-von-holtz.jpg

Vasili is Strahd in disguise.

He's using his polymorph abilities, nondetection and Nystul's magic aura to spy on and play with
the barovian people. Vasili should only make short appearances, ranging from a simple
encounter in the streets to a dinner with Lady Watcher and the PCs, but no more. Strahd has
other matters to attend to and he doesn't want to go missing for too long in Castle Ravenloft.
Basically, Vasili is a young lord residing in Vallaki. If the PCs inquire about his home or where
he came from, he says he came from an ancient family but all his relatives are dead now. If they
insist he tells them that he has a house in town and will lead them into an abandoned manor.
Although it might be discovered that Vasili is more than meets the eye, Strahd will never publicly
acknowledge his secret identity.
Vasili is not Strahd.
Instead, Vasili is the man Strahd always wanted to be. He is Sergeï. He is young, wise and
handsome. He is the image of Strahd's perception of the perfect man who could conquer
Tatyana.
If Strahd is the badass villain, on the contrary, Vasili should appear as the exact opposite: the
totally good buddy who is friendly with everyone. Given the nature of Barovia and the fact that
even good NPCs are hiding dark things, Vasili's behavior should denote that something is off.
He would blend easily in any lighter setting but in Barovia he should seem almost too perfect
and good-hearted to be true.
Ultimately, Vasili is Strahd.
Even if Strahd is trying very hard to be the perfect gentleman, he can't help himself. He wants to
play with the barovian people and all his manners are twisted towards his goals. He will fall for
Tatyana. He is too arrogant to be insulted without retribution at some point.
Vasili still has all of Strahd's abilities. His plans are well thought and he has every possible
outcome covered. In combat, he would totally wreck a low-level party (but remember, he will try
to hide that he is Strahd as long as possible).
Although he doesn't have access to all the more recent reports from his spies, he can still use
scrying, charming, stealth and invisibility to get all the information he wants.
When Vasili enters a place you may want an NPC in the house to call him with something like
"Vasili, my friend, come here!" which would count as an invitation regarding vampire
weaknesses (but again, you could also argue that Strahd can enter any property without
invitation since he owns all of Barovia: he is the Land).
Vasili and the NPCs
Vasili is on good terms with everyone at Vallaki. He's using his charm ability to pretend he has
friends and to be in control of everything happening in the town. His relations with known NPCs
are:

With Rudolph van Richten: Strahd is searching for Rudolph van Richten but hasn't found
anything so far. On the contrary, Van Richten finds this vallakian very suspicious for all the
reasons mentioned above. Van Richten is suspecting Vasili to be a very powerful agent of
Strahd, even suspecting he is Strahd himself given his natural charm. While Van Richten is right
to think that Vasili may be Strahd, he is the only one person in Barovia to do so. As Van Richten
doesn't want to break his cover, he will not act against Vasili but will try to collect evidence that
he's right.
With Henrik van der Voort: Vasili found in Henrik a troubled and lonely man. To lift up his heart,
he gave him gold in exchange for a service: to store crates with no questions asked. In my
version of CoS, Henrik doesn't know that the crates contain vampire spawns. After this first
mission, Vasili came back to ask for Saint Andral's bones in exchange for more gold. He even
suggested that giving Milivoj some of that gold to do it would be a good deed (the boy doesn't
have a lot to eat, poor lad). This is an instance where Strahd truly "cares" for his people BUT
manipulate them to do his bidding. In doing so he believes he is the perfect lord of the land.
With Lady Wachter: in my game, Lady Wachter is loyal to the Count but hides this allegiance
(this is an instance where you should not show the book's illustration to your players). She
doesn't know Vasili is Strahd. For her, Vasili is lesser noble, a pawn in her plans and she has
absolute control of the situation in Vallaki. In fact, Vasili is influencing her to stir a revolution. For
Strahd, there is no one capable enough to be the head Vallaki. For the good of its people, he
should be the only ruler of this land. Therefore Vasili plans to remove the Baron Vallakovich and
Lady Wachter from play. Vasili will make sure the Baron is secretly aware of Lady Wachter's
plans.
With the Abbot: pretty much what is in the book, except Vasili never revealed himself to be
Strahd von Zarovich. Instead, he told his story via suggestions and remarks. The Abbot is part
of Strahd's plan to trick the dark powers and to get Tatyana. At this stage his suggestions lead
the Abbot to create a mechanical and not-so-desirable bride for Strahd. But he hopes that with
further manipulation the Abbot will help him to marry a reincarnation of Tatyana. Vasili
convinced the Abbot that doing good for Strahd will ultimately bring good to this land (because,
you know, he is the Land).
With Ireena: Vasili will try to seduce Ireena whenever possible. He is a more subtle and more
successful seducer than Strahd. Although maybe intrigued at first, Ireena will begin to fall for
him ("He's so wise, and I feel I've known him for sooooo long"). During the party's stay at
Vallaki, he will try to isolate her in order to charm her/bite her/kidnap her.
With Strahd: Vasili has a mixed opinion about Strahd. He thinks that the Count may be
somewhat brutal and unpredictable but he seems to truly care for his people. Vasili will surely
try to ask the party's opinion about Strahd.
Vasili and the PCs
I think the best moment to introduce Vasili to the party is on the road to Vallaki, somewhat after
Old Bonegrinder and one hour before reaching the gates. I made him back off from the forest
into the main road, fighting back some wolves. If asked, he explains he made a bet with some
wolf hunters that he was capable enough to stay outside Vallaki's wall for one night and come
back alive with a wolf head. Vasili will lead them to Vallaki and if they ask for the closest tavern
he will lead them to the Blue Water Inn, where the wolf hunters will offer them a drink.
Vasili is a great way to introduce the places and NPCs of Vallaki to the party. While doing so he
will try to mislead the PCs by twisting their vision of things. For instance, he tells them that
although he praises the Baron's goal of making everyone happy and that his actions seem to
have protected the vallakians from Strahd so far, he does not endorse his quick and brutal
justice. He may ask the party "Should a ruler do anything for the good of his people, even
against their will?".
You should drop hints so that the PCs will recognize Vasili as Strahd when the time comes. For
instance one morning my party was just leaving St Andral's church. They found Vasili on the
steps of the church reading a book "Guide to Vampire Hunting - Rudolph Van Richten". He said
that he was "studying his enemy" and even offered some (of course) misleading pieces of
advice on how to kill vampires (at some point my players even thought Vasili may be Van
Richten, that was hilarious).
Vasili will try to involve the PCs in Vallaki's events. His goal is not to harm them (at this stage
Strahd should not have any reason to want to kill the party) but to toy with them and see how
they are reacting. He will avoid charming them directly but charming other NPCs to influence the
PCs is fine.
For example:
After my players met the Baron and his "justice", Vasili introduced the party to Lady Wachter
and they dined with her. She told them of her plan to kidnap the Baron during the Festival of the
Blazing Sun, in order to judge him for his deeds.
Later on, the party went to Henrik and discovered that the stealing of the bones was Vasili's
doing. They began to be suspicious towards Vasili but thought that it was part of Lady Wachter's
plan to overthrow the Baron.
After messing with the Baron and the guards, they had no choice but to hide in the cellar of the
Blue Water Inn (Urwin Martikov helped them). They wanted to attend the festival (to help Lady
Wachter capture the Baron) so they asked Urwin if there was any mean to do so.
Knowing that the party was hiding there, Vasili charmed Urwin and suggested that he could hide
the PCs in wooden crates. Urwin reported the idea to the PCs and they accepted.
During the festival, they took notice that the crates were locked. Unbeknownst to them, other
crates full of vampire spawns were there (the ones from the coffin maker).
Through holes in the crates, they could only witness with horror Vasili speaking to the Baron,
then the Baron denunciating the PCs being "agents of Strahd in league with Lady Wachter and
plotting against Vallaki". The Baron asked the guards to arrest Lady Wachter. Vasili winked and
smiled in their direction, enunciated "just stay there and watch" with his lips and disappeared
(only to go to the deserted Blue Water Inn where the PCs ordered Ireena to stay).
Then the slaughter between the cultists and the guards began, with the spawns breaking out of
the crates three rounds after.
The big reveal: you can choose to reveal that Vasili is Strahd immediately after he betrayed the
trust you built with the PCs (like biting Ireena) BUT if you manage to keep those things
separated that's even better. Let your PCs be pissed off by Strahd AND Vasili separately. Then
Strahd could reveal further down the road (for instance during a dinner at Ravenloft) that it was
him all along. He could use it as a secret psychological warfare weapon.
Can the PCs prevent all of Vasili's plans?
They can't. At least, it should be a herculean task (like bringing Ireena out of Barovia alive). The
whole point of CoS is to survive and to get the best outcome possible. To somehow thwart
Vasili's plans, the PCs can:

Bring back the bones to the church

Discover that Vasili is more than meets the eye and warn Rictavio
Keep Ireena close to them round the clock
In the end, the revolution in Vallaki/St Andral's feast should happen because Strahd wills it and
at their level, the PCs can't do anything to truly stop him. However, if they accomplish any of the
above tasks Strahd will invite them to dine with him.

TL;DR:

Play Vasili as Strahd trying to roleplay Sergeï, but twisting his ways like an evil player would
twist a LG Paladin character.