After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Caroline Walker, an American Evangelical Christian journalist and filmmaker who hoped to adapt The Persecutor for the big screen, travelled to the Russian Federation and attempted to confirm the memoir of Kourdakov.

A documentary film, produced by Damian Wojciechowski, followed Caroline Walker during and after her research trip to Russia, Forgive Me, Sergei, won numerous awards worldwide.

"[9] He soon discovered that the orphanage at Barysevo had a caste system-esque society created by the orphans, with "slaves" on the bottom, "lieutenants" in the middle, and the "king" at the top.

Initially successful, his business ended after a group of gang members that discovered he was carrying the narcotic took him into an alley and stabbed him in the back for it, almost killing him.

While recovering from his injury, Sergei realized that he had to make a decision for what he would do with his life: either follow the course of his friends and continue dealing in the underworld or seriously focus on building a career in communism.

Miraculously, he survived because the bullet first shot through multiple layers of clothes and through his thick address book and all of his identification papers before lodging itself in his skin.

After telling Kourdakov that he had gone through his record all the way to his days in Children's Home Number One and complimented him on his ability to captivate people so well during speeches, he stated his desire to place him as the leader of this new group.

Under the leadership and influence of Ivan Azarov, Kourdakov and the others in his group became convinced that Christians, "Believers" as they were always referred to, were a serious threat to the Communist party and the Soviet Union.

The squad's first major operation was in small village called Elizovo, near the Avacha River and 35 miles to the north of Petropavlovsk, where a baptism service was being held.

Along with the duties of being the leader of the police group, Sergei Kourdakov continued studying at the naval academy, hoping to become a radio engineer in the Navy.

He still retained his position as the leader of the academy's Communist Youth League and continued to compete in the school's sports, primarily consisting of wrestling, judo, karate, and track.

In his book, Kourdakov quoted Azarov on the use of printed material: "Another organization and department branch has been established in Moscow to study the teachings of these Believers, so we can better oppose and defeat them.

After reading her records and discovering that she had been part of the Communist Youth League, Kourdakov saw it as his duty to set her straight and had her come to the police station to have a talk with her, in hopes of frightening her into breaking off from the underground Christian church.

He was invited to receive an award which honored him as the Number-One Communist Youth of Kamchatka Province, for which he prepared and gave a fifteen-minute speech, which was broadcast nationwide.

Inside he saw all sorts of expensive delicacies he did not expect to see and vodka "flowing like water," but more importantly, he witnessed the state of the party leaders—drunk, passed out, or drinking themselves to unconsciousness.

"[15] As he thought of Natasha, a sense of curiosity overcame him and he picked up a text, which happened to be an incomplete copy of the Gospel of Luke and began reading until Victor came back.

Although he was to stay in Novosibirsk in case of a military emergency, he took a plane to Moscow to visit the tomb of Vladimir Lenin for the second time, hoping that being near his body would give him a sense of direction, something the corpse fell short on.

From that message, he learned that the United States government fully cooperated with the Soviet Union and handed him back to his home country, where he was sentenced to ten years in prison.

In the morning of the next day, Sergei Kourdakov was found staggering half-naked and bleeding onto the shores of Haida Gwaii by a woman living near the sea, who quickly called the hospital.

This was done in preparation for potentially deporting Kourdakov, since a Russian liner was set to travel up the Saint Lawrence River and dock only a few hundred yards from the prison.

But when he went to the address, he found out that it was a set-up and the members were part of the Front de libération du Québec, a nationalist and socialist revolutionary group responsible for hundreds of bombings, with strong Communist ties.

When he asked where it came from, the pastor told him that Underground Evangelism (now known as Mission Without Borders), a Californian organization that helped in the smuggling of Christian materials into the Soviet Union and other Communist countries.

[1] To celebrate the New Year, Sergei went on vacation with Ann Johnson, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the family he was living with first to Disneyland, then to a ski lodge in Running Springs, California.

[1] In his room was an unfinished typewritten paper (which he was preparing for Senator Strom Thurmond with regard to receiving permanent residency in the US), a champagne bottle, and the gun borrowed from the family's father.

"[6] L. Joe Bass was quoted on an Underground Evangelism newsletter saying that "What better than midnight on New Year's Eve, and what better place than that small, tourist-packed resort area for Sergei Kourdakov to have an 'accident'?

[2] Jesus to the Communist World general director Richard Wurmbrand, himself a former prisoner and torture victim in Soviet-controlled Romania, accused Underground Evangelism of exploiting the young defector.

On January 4, he wrote an open letter to the organization stating that Sergei Kourdakov "should not have been brought on the stage [into publicity] with its perils before having been a member of a church growing in grace and knowledge.

"[2] Andrew Semenchuk, the west coast representative of the Slavic Gospel Association stated that he and other Russian Baptist church members who heard Sergei speak at a Santa Ana felt that he "should not have been thrust into such a situation—speaking on subjects 'completely beyond him.

"[2] In addition to placing Kourdakov on a tour of over twenty speaking engagements during his short time in the organization, Underground Evangelism sold taped versions of his story priced at four dollars.

Myrus Knutson, board chairman of Jesus to the Communist World, made a statement saying that "it may be unfair to say it, but they [Underground Evangelism] smelled money.