10.060 minSeason 1 • Episode 6
LatestOperatives are looking for a killer who has appropriated someone else's identity. The story of a real case based on the story of Yulian Semyonov.
Acting
Basilashvili's exhausted eyes carry entire episodes.
Direction
Aranovich turns Leningrad into a character—gray, watchful, hungry.
Production
Real 1985 USSR locations—no set dressing required.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Semyonov invented the Soviet detective genre; this was his darkest case file. Glasnost hadn't started yet—this got made through pure bureaucratic luck.
The real killer stole 78 identities. The series condensed this to focus on the hunters' psychological decay rather than the chase.
SU
