re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

This is just one of many stories describing how the FSB enriches itself without any control from higher-ups in government. It clearly follows that there are no higher-ups than these gangs from the FSB.

With Putin ducking and dodging from one Trans Ural bolt hole to another, the real power in Moscow now are these mafia gangs of the security services.

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The Cheka-OGPU had at their disposal a description of the events that preceded the large-scale searches and detentions at [the corporation] GK "Protector," the largest supplier of aviation parts bypassing sanctions, from the company's founder, Pavel Provotorov.

First, individuals close to the FSB created major problems for him through customs channels. In exchange, they demanded 50% of the entire business and, accordingly, half of all profits. And then they began milking him for ever new payments; 12 billion rubles allocated for the purchase of aviation spare parts through Rosaviatsia, etc., were squandered.

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After the start of the war and the imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation in 2022, GK "Protector" quickly emerged as a leader in supplying spare parts to Russia bypassing sanctions, having companies in the USA, Thailand, Singapore, and established supply chains for this purpose. Already in 2022, the group's turnover amounted to about 3 billion rubles PER MONTH. However, by the end of 2022, "Protector" began experiencing difficulties with customs clearance in Russia. The customs clearance time for one shipment ranged from one week to several months. Customs also provided information that criminal cases would soon be initiated against the management of GK Protector. From our project, we'll add that there's no need to guess much to understand that behind these problems stood Oleg Gubaidualin, Deputy Head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. This is an FSB general attached to customs.

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There's more if you have the stomach for it.

LINK

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While oil refineries and Wildberries are hit almost daily, emitting enough smoke for the entire country to see, Putin is busy visiting every Trans Ural site he can find.

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The Tyumen refinery hit yesterday was the first in a week, and there wasn't another one last night. Either Ukraine has largely slowed its targeting of refineries, or Russia has finally got better air defense in place to protect them. Everything I read indicates that the fuel shortages in Russia have definitely lessened in the last week.

That's not a picture of Putin.

It is well known that he has a couple of body doubles who make most of these goodwill tours of factories and all that. But as he gets older it's harder and harder to keep everyone looking the same. People age differently and the ruse is becoming absurd.

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Everything I read indicates that the fuel shortages in Russia have definitely lessened in the last week.

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Components of gasoline manufactured then blended before getting to market is not overnight. Take a refinery which I have for sale sent 4,000 BPD to a large truck stop adjacent to it. over 85,000 bbls of storage just for diesel with capacity of 8,000 BPD. For gasoline, naphtha, refomate, alkylate and isomerate need to be blended after refining to blend into actual gasoline that you put into a vehicle

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In the Soviet Union most normal people didn’t have personal automobiles so domestic refining capacity was limited and the distribution system was local.

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I'm well aware of that. They ordered a number of cookie cutter small simple refineries from an EPC firm in Houston which never was paid. That went belly up by 1995.

A lot has changed since then with modernization and expansion of refineries since the early 2000s. There is a transport system It's called railroads and internal river/canal system. There are also product pipelines now

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Oleg is a bit hyperbolic here as these banks are technically insolvent already but will never be allowed to declare bankruptcy. Most of them are just shells now, only kept open to facilitate government REPO payments straight to war production and FSB gangs.

The biggest issue with Wildberries is that there is vastly insufficient insurance to cover the losses both to WB and their resellers. Insurance is still seen in Russia as an unnecessary expense as the Soviet philosophy of government providing the same function still prevails in much of the country. And re-insurance - which is absolutely required in any operation of this size - doesn't really exist in Russia. All the re-insurers for the WB fire in Moscow in 2024 were Western and are now unavailable due to sanctions.

But the acts of war dissolution clause in any insurance policy covers WB's losses here. The problem is that those losses are now carried by all the Russian resellers and their businesses will certainly be bankrupt. Gone with these businesses will be the taxes, liquidity generated and most damaging, the loss of confidence in the government by some of the only tech-savvy entrepreneurs in the country.

As we said before, if you take this much money and this much confidence out of an economy that is on its last legs already, the damage is cumulative and no amount of REPOs issued will stop the crash.

Hmmm. Maybe Oleg is not being hyperbolic.

This was inevitable. There will be serious financial repercussions for Greece now. The EU has been tired of these parasites for years now and this gives them payback.

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FACILITIES HIT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF 2026, -

Refineries — 69 attacks on 28 plants.
Oil depots — 36 attacks on 30 facilities (37 including Belgorod region). Wildberries and logistics — 11 attacked facilities.
Oil terminals and port infrastructure — 21 attacks on 10 facilities.
Other commercial and industrial logistics — 3 attacks.
Metallurgy — 2 confirmed and 1 probable attack.
Gas infrastructure — 5 confirmed and 2 probable attacks.
Space and strategic communications — 4 confirmed and 1 probable attack.
Defense-industrial, electronic and aerospace enterprises — 17 attacks on 15 facilities.
Chemical, petrochemical, fertilizer and explosives plants — 18 confirmed and 1 probable attack.
NPS / LPDS / UPN and oil pumping infrastructure — 13 attacks.

In total, only in these categories were recorded: 199 confirmed attacks (or 204 taking into account all probable and unidentified cases).

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