Theo Zenou

The spy movie that set Putin on the path to the KGB

The Shield and the Sword (Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)
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Leningrad, summer 1968. Volodya is 15-year-old. With his mates, he goes to the cinema to catch The Shield and the Sword, the new movie everyone in the USSR is buzzing about. It’s a big-budget production about a Soviet spy who infiltrates the Nazis during World War II. Volodya is blown away.

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