publish novels featuring heroic Chekisty. In January-February 1969, the novel Seventeen Moments of Spring by Semyonov, a sequel to No Password Required was serialized in Pravda and was published as a book later in 1969. The novel was set in Berlin in March-May 1945 as the Red Army advanced onto to Berlin, causing the Nazis to become more desperate while Isayev who has gone undercover in Berlin under the alias Max Otto von Stierlitz to maneuver to defeat their plans. Impressed by the favorable public response to Seventeen Moments of Spring, Andropov pressed to have book adopted as a television mini-series, which was filmed in 1971–72. Seventeen Moments of Spring was one of the most expensive Soviet television productions ever filmed, being shot on a lavish scale that was unusual for Soviet television and all of the leading parts were played by famous and well respected actors, which certainly contributed to its appeal. The mini-series caused much protest by the Red Army, who complained that the series gave the impression that it was the NKVD that won the Great Patriotic War as the war with Germany is known in the Soviet Union, causing the director Tatyana Lioznova to be ordered to add in new scenes showing the Red Army advancing and taking Berlin, which added another year to its production, causing the mini-series to debut in 1973 instead of 1972 as planned. To save money and to give a sense of authenticity, the battle scenes Lioznova added were mostly stock footage from the war. The mini-series Seventeen Moments of Spring was another enormous hit in 1973, attracting an average of 30-40 million viewers per night and turned the Isayev character into a cultural phenomena in the Soviet Union. Character In Seventeen Moments of Spring, Stierlitz is the cover name for a Soviet super-spy Colonel Maxim Maximovich Isaуev (Макси́м Макси́мович Иса́ев), whose real name is Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov (Все́волод Влади́мирович Владимиров). Stierlitz took a key role in the SS Reich Main Security Office in Berlin during World War II, infiltrating Ausland-SD (foreign intelligence) headed by Walter Schellenberg. Working deep undercover, Stierlitz tries to collect intelligence about the Germans' war plans and communicate it to Moscow. He receives instructions from Moscow on how to proceed, on one occasion traveling to Switzerland on a secret mission. He diverts the German nuclear "Vengeance Weapon" research program into a fruitless dead-end, thwarts separate peace talks