Soviet spies, Arab deserts, and secrets that outlasted the USSR. Comrade, your clearance level just upgraded.
Season 1 • Episode 8
LatestRussian Translation (Русский перевод) is a 2007 Russian miniseries based on Andrey Konstantinov's 1996 novel about Soviet military advisors and translators in the 1980s, specifically in Arab countries like Yemen and Libya.
Production
Authentic 1980s Soviet-Arab environments, shot on location.
Acting
Nikita Zverev's crumbling idealist, quietly devastating.
Writing
Konstantinov's novel adapted with painful historical specificity.
Creator
Eduard Volodarskiy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Konstantinov's real experiences; Soviet military advisors in Yemen and Libya were actual Cold War ghosts, erased from official histories.
The title's double meaning—'Russian translation' as linguistic work and as the Soviet project's failed export—reveals itself in Obnorsky's final monologue about untranslatable loss.
RU
