Introduction

Liquidation (2007) (Russian: Ликвидация, Likvidatsiya, aka Decision: Liquidation) is a highly popular Russian television series, which parallels the famous The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed with a notable ethical shift. In the “Meeting Place”, chief of criminal investigations Gleb Zheglov (played by Vladimir Vysotskiy) had a modus operandi “Thief must go to prison, no matter how I put him there” (and uses planted evidence to do so).

In Liquidation, chief of criminal investigations David Gottsman’s (played by Vladimir Mashkov) motto has changed to “Thief must go to prison, but lawfully so”. The stars of the film include famous Russian actors such as Vladimir Mashkov and Konstantin Lavronenko (The Return, The Banishment). Sergei Makovetsky had to replace Andrey Krasko, who died of a heart attack during filming.

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Outline

The case of the stolen uniforms continues grow, but all leads seem to get cut off – the goods were burnt in the truck, Yefim was found murdered, “Greying Greek” was finally arrested, but was shot dead during his transport to the station. The only real discovery was that the operations were led by “Chekan”, and that the mastermind behind them was some secret “Academic”. At night, “Chekan”’s gang attempt to take away weapons from a military depot, but are caught by password checks put in place by the city’s Military Quartermaster, Vorobyov. The bandits escape with a firefight, and in two hours, Quartermaster Vorobyov is found murdered. According to doctor Arsenin, the murderers wanted to imitate a suicide. Due to the difficulty of the case, Gottsman’s group is strengthened with another member – Prosecutor’s Assistant Major Vitaliy Krechetov. Simultaneously, the Counterintelligence Unit discovers that “Chekan” was educated at a German intelligence school, where he met a top-secret agent nicknamed “Academic”, but no-one questioned has seen the “Academic” face to face. During an attempt to arrest “Chekan”, two Counterintelligence officers are killed, and “Chekan” escapes. Chekan’s girlfriend, Ida, convinces him to run away with the contrabandists to Turkey, but this does not fit in with the “Academic’s” plans…

Liquidation Series

You can find a full index of Liquidation here.

Production & Filming Details

• Release Date: 23 October 2007.
• Running Time: 45 minutes (per episode) and 644 minutes (total running time).
• Rating: Unknown.
• Country: Russia.
• Language: Russian.

YouTube Link