Russian TV Designer Alexander Kondratov Dies After Arrest on Treason Charges

Alexander Kondratov, the 52-year-old production designer behind the popular Russian detective series Likvidatsiya, died at Botkin Hospital in Moscow after being held on treason charges. According to human-rights organization Department One, he was moved from a pre-trial detention facility to the hospital on October 23 following his arrest at Vnukovo Airport, where he had traveled to renew a foreign passport. Kondratov, a Moscow native who had lived in Kyiv since 2012, faced a criminal case based on “at least six publications” posted online, though the material has not been made public.

The group did not disclose the cause of death. Kondratov’s work on Likvidatsiya earned him a Golden Eagle Award and a TEFI Award, and the series, set in post-war Odesa in 1946, stars actors such as Vladimir Mashkov and Mikhail Porechenkov.