Anatoli Romov was a popular Soviet and Russian author and filmmaker known for such movies, as Almazy shakha, Kole Sharlotty, Razvyazka (1970) and other films known mainly in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He was attacked and censored by the powerful Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR General N.A. Shchelokov for making film script for the 1968 movie titled "Hidden Enemy"/ "Amnesty Not Possible" - a revelation about "turnskins" (oborotni) among Soviet ranking officers. That movie was declared "anti-Soviet" and all film copies were destroyed upon orders from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of USSR.

Anatoli Sergeevich Romov was born in Moscow in 1935. His father, Vladimir Tatlin, was a renown artist and architect, and his mother, Nina Bam-Romova was a writer and journalist. In 1955, Romov graduated from Leningrad School of Merchant Marines and got a job at Soviet cargo fleet. In 1957, Romov wrote his first story titled "The First Cargo" that was published in a soviet newspaper. That same year Anatoli Romov was admitted to Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow, where he studied under the tutelage of poet Mikhail Svetlov, and graduated in 1961. In 1962, Romov was admitted to High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors, and there he studied under the tutelage of Yevgeny Gabrilovich.

In 1969, Anatoli Romov was censored by the Soviet government and his original script for the film Razvyazka (1970) was labeled as "anti-Soviet" so the original director's version of the movie was destroyed. Romov penned the original film script titled "Hidden Enemy" in 1967: it was about a ranking Soviet police officer who was killing people and escaped justice using crafty mimicry and wearing a soviet uniform as a coverup. "Hidden Enemy" was later renamed as "Amnesty Not Possible" and after that the film was destroyed by Soviet government, it was later replaced by the film Razvyazka (1970). Soviet government committed the destruction of the dangerous movie in a special operation that was very convoluted and hard to trace, and by doing so the government tried to cover up the problem of "turnskins" in the Soviet Union.

Release of "Hidden Enemy" in 1968 was stopped and aborted because the film was banned by the Soviet leadership after a few theatrical screenings. Scriptwriter Anatoli Romov and director Nikolay Rosantsev changed the film title from "Hidden Enemy" to "Amnesty Not Possible." They tried to save the original movie by disguising it under a different name - "Amnesty Not Possible" - but the screenings were unfortunately attended by the Soviet law enforcement rank and staff. Their reason for censorship was that the western spy Sotnikov, played by Pyotr Shelokhonov, was a bloody murderer shown infiltrating the Soviet rank and file while he wore a Soviet uniform for disguise. Romov and his fellow filmmakers were accused of anti-Soviet "false representation of Soviet law enforcement" as it was written in the letter by the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs. To make matter worse, in January 1969, a real assassin wearing a uniform approached the Moscow Kremlin and made several gun shots trying to kill the Soviet leader Brezhnev. The assassin was disguised in a stolen police uniform and made several gunshots killing a KGB officer from Brezhnev's entourage. After that, all film copies and film negatives of the movie "Hidden Enemy"/ "Amnesty Not Possible" were confiscated and destroyed by the Soviet government. Anatoli Romov was ordered to write a different film script for a new movie Razvyazka (1970) that now was made under supervision from Soviet government. In this new movie the foreign spy, played again by Pyotr Shelokhonov, was ordered to wear a distinctive white shirt to make him look different from the plain-clothed Soviet KGB. This was ordered by the Soviet government according to official view of Soviet propaganda.

The attack on Anatoli Romov and his fellow filmmakers was initiated by the powerful Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR General N.A. Shchelokov, who was a close friend of the Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev. Writer Anatoli Romov was personally attacked in the document of censorship signed by General N.A. Shchelokov. Here is the full text of the first document:

"The Lenfilm studios completed the movie "Amnesty Not Possible" (directed by N. Rozanov, screenwriter A. Romov), which, in our opinion, contains serious political mistakes. In the role of a foe of the Soviet power, a traitor to the motherland, a resident of foreign intelligence in this film is the chief of the district police department. Such a malicious misinterpretation of the image of a leading officer of the internal affairs can cause deep outrage and distrust among the viewers and may create a distorted image of Soviet law enforcement, by showing their views and beliefs as hostile to the vital interests of the Soviet people and the Communist Party. Our justified outrage is caused not only by the malicious distortion of the image of a Soviet Officer but also by the obvious falsification of reality. In the history of Soviet law enforcement, there was never a case for its commanding officer to become an agent of imperialist intelligence. Attention is drawn to the harmful trend of the film script showing a clash between Soviet Police and the KGB authorities, who exposed the treacherous activity of the police officer. Propaganda of such contrived "conflicts" can damage the authority of both the state security and internal affairs agencies. The film "Amnesty Not Possible" defames the honor and dignity of police officers, contradicts the requirements of the November resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR about the truthful depiction of internal affairs and the all-round strengthening of their authority among the Soviet people. I hereby request your order to ban the release of the film "Amnesty Not Possible". Also, the production of motion pictures about Soviet law enforcement agencies should be better consulted by the Ministry of the Interior of the USSR." (Letter of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR N.A. Shchelokov to Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of USSR)

At that time, the Soviet leader Brezhnev was nervous with the Prague Spring revolution that involved the Soviet tanks invasion of Czechoslovakia that caused anti-war protests in the Soviet Union and across the world. The Soviet government responded with repressions and censorship, so the attack on Anatoli Romov and his fellow filmmakers was continued with the swift blow from the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party and The Committee on Cinematography of the USSR. Here is the full text of the second document:

"The Committee on Cinematography considered a letter from the Minister of the Interior of the USSR Comrade Shchelokov N.A. about the film "Amnesty is not possible" produced by the Lenfilm studios. It was decided not to replicate the film, to return all the original materials to the studio. Director of the studio comrade I.N.Kiselev was instructed to make changes to the film, following the concerns expressed in the letter by comrade N.A.Shchelokov." (Signed by Aleksei Romanov, the Chairman of the Committee on Cinematography Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, this letter was delivered to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of USSR on 3 July 1969)

After the attack by Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR General N.A. Shchelokov, filmmakers Nikolay Rosantsev, Anatoli Romov, and Pyotr Shelokhonov were censored. The letter signed by General N.A. Shchelokov and the follow up letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of USSR are the only official documents proving today that the movie "Hidden Enemy"/ "Amnesty Not Possible" ever existed, because all film copies and film negatives were destroyed. The destruction of the dangerous anti-Soviet movie was a special operation ordered by General N.A. Shchelokov and carried by Soviet operatives in a manner that was very convoluted and hard to trace. Soviet leaders were desperate trying to cover up the problem of "turnskins" among the rank and file in Soviet Union. For making the movie "Hidden Enemy"/ "Amnesty Not Possible" with bold revelations about the problem of "turnskins" in Soviet KGB and MVD, writer Anatoli Romov, director Nikolay Rozantsev, and actor Petr Shelokhonov were punished by the Soviet government and suffered substantial financial losses. Eventually, Romov and his fellow filmmakers resumed their film careers, but their life was never the same.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Anatoli Romov with his son, Phil Romov, emigrated to the USA in the 1990s. In 2002, Anatoli Romov became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He passed away of natural causes on the 10th of December 2024 in New York city.

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