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Speaker 1: Media. Something strange is going on. Another member of the

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Speaker 1: Russian elite has been found dead. Reports suggests that he

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Speaker 1: fell out of a window poisoned with mushrooms. He died

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Speaker 1: of heart failure, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. How comesy

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Speaker 1: are they?

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Speaker 2: Dozens of Russian oligarchs, politically motivated millionaires have died in

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Speaker 2: the space for three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances.

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Speaker 2: Many have hidden links to the Kremlin. This is sad

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Speaker 2: Oligach season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently stead of.

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Speaker 1: Russian power brokers.

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Speaker 2: Sad Oligach is created by me jake Hanrahan and my

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Speaker 2: Ukrainian colleague Sergey Slipchenkov. This is a H eleven Studio

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Speaker 2: and Coolso Media production. Before we get into this episode,

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Speaker 2: tale of Death and Goulags, we have a bit of

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Speaker 2: an update from episode seven Hanged with hands bound. If

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Speaker 2: you remember, this was the case where businessmen and local

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Speaker 2: Putin politician Batally Kapustin was found hanged high up in

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Speaker 2: a tree and I witnessed said that his hands were

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Speaker 2: tied behind his back. Still, the police deemed it a suicide.

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Speaker 2: For that case, I went down the rabbit hole of

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Speaker 2: police corruption in the area where Kapustin was hanged, a

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Speaker 2: place called at Kresnador Cry. To be frank, it seems

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Speaker 2: to be one of the most corrupt regions in the

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Speaker 2: whole of Russia, and that saying something. I've kept looking

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Speaker 2: into the case, and there seems to be a big

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Speaker 2: issue with strange murders, organized crime and state embezzlement all

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Speaker 2: in this one area. So I reached out through a

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Speaker 2: source in Russia who's involved in documenting the Krasnodar Kry underworld.

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Speaker 2: He was going to come on to sad Oligak to

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Speaker 2: speak about it, but it was perhaps a little bit

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Speaker 2: too risky for him, even under anonymity. It's understandable. He did, though,

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Speaker 2: send us a sort of statement or overview of how

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Speaker 2: he understands the corruption in Kresnal door Kry. We translated

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Speaker 2: this all from Russian and I'm going to read it

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Speaker 2: out here in full, as I think it adds some

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Speaker 2: great context to the mysterious death of Vitally Kapustin. The

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Speaker 2: following is from our anonymous source in Russia.

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Speaker 1: Quote.

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Speaker 2: Since Soviet times, Krasnal door Kry has held a special

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Speaker 2: place within Russia's law enforcement system.

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Speaker 1: The reason is simple.

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Speaker 2: The country's main results are here, and that's where the

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Speaker 2: entire political and security elite go on holiday with their families.

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Speaker 2: Their holidays are arranged and facilitated by local officials, police, businessmen, fixers,

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Speaker 2: and so on. If you organize a good stay for

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Speaker 2: an important guest from Moscow, you're immediately welcomed into the

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Speaker 2: inner circle. From that point on, you don't really answer

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Speaker 2: to local leadership, but to whichever Moscow official took a

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Speaker 2: liking to you. Depending on the guests rank, a local

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Speaker 2: bureaucrat or security official can essentially become untouchable with guaranteed

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Speaker 2: career advancement. Complaining about them at the local level is

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Speaker 2: pointless and often useless. Even at the federal level, this

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Speaker 2: dynamic produces chosen ones who feel free to do whatever

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Speaker 2: they want. There was even a period when many law

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Speaker 2: enforcement personnel from Cresnal door Cry were relocated to Moscow.

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Speaker 2: For example, Vladimir Yakovenko, a prosecutor from Sochi, jumped from

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Speaker 2: Krasnodor Krei into the presidential administration, then went on to

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Speaker 2: head the main investigative directorate of the Investigative Committee in

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Speaker 2: Moscow and is now head of Rossi Mushestvo. When he

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Speaker 2: was running Moscow's Investigative Directorate, his deputy was another Krasnada native,

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Speaker 2: Sergei Senagovski, the son of former Nova Rossiisk mayor Vladimir

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Speaker 2: senor Goovsky. Senorgovski ended up involved in a major corruption

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Speaker 2: scandal involving bribing Investigative Committee officials to free the crime

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Speaker 2: boss Andrei Kotchukov, known as the Italian All its colleagues

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Speaker 2: were jailed, but Senyorgovsky got away with just being fired.

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Speaker 2: You can also recall the Sapok gang, which terrorized Kuzhnyajovskaya

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Speaker 2: for many years and eventually murdered twelve people, including small children.

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Speaker 2: During the investigation, it was proven that all law enforcement

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Speaker 2: officials in the prisonage of Skaya district were receiving money

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Speaker 2: from the gang, yet none of them went to prison.

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Speaker 2: Many actually built successful careers. Another example from Krasnodor Krii

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Speaker 2: is the well known fixer Andre Mattis, who handles problems

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Speaker 2: between law enforcement and business. He reached the federal level

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Speaker 2: after organizing holidays in Sochi for FSB officers. Two men

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Speaker 2: who controlled the entire judicial system of Krasnodor Krii for

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Speaker 2: many years became billionaires. Former head of the Krasnodar Regional

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Speaker 2: Court Alexander Shnov and Supreme Court Judge Victor Momotov their

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Speaker 2: assets worth tens of billions and now being seized. But

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Speaker 2: this isn't an anti corruption drive. It's simply a change

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Speaker 2: of ruling clans in Moscow, where one group of corrupt

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Speaker 2: officials is being replaced by another. An ordinary person has

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Speaker 2: a very little chance of getting justice in the Krasnodor

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Speaker 2: Krei region because police, prosecutors and judges often work together.

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Speaker 2: For years, there's been a corruption slash criminal alliance involving

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Speaker 2: Amen Aretagnan, first deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department

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Speaker 2: of the Regional Interior Ministry and Vladimir Kishlak, former head

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Speaker 2: of the Civil Division of the Krasnodar Regional Court. Despite

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Speaker 2: his position, Atonian Wield's enormous influence over the whole Interior

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Speaker 2: Ministry apparatus in the region, and Kishlak still maintains control

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Speaker 2: over the regional court. Duo controls key processes the opening

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Speaker 2: and closure of criminal cases in the investigative committee, obtaining

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Speaker 2: the right decisions in court, corporate raids, an extortion target

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Speaker 2: in business people and citizens across the Cuban area. With

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Speaker 2: such mutual protection, real miracles can occur, such as outright

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Speaker 2: murder being passed off as suicide. One example is the

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Speaker 2: case of Constantine Pliganoff, an FSB captain in Komisk Non

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Speaker 2: for fighting corruption. He'd been working on a case against

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Speaker 2: the head of the Comisk district, Surgey Less. In July

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, Pliganov's body was found in the reeds

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Speaker 2: of Lake Tuscan Skuoya, with his legs tied and a

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Speaker 2: bullet in the back of his head. It was declared

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Speaker 2: an unusual suicide. Recently, Les was arrested on corruption charges

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Speaker 2: after attempting to flee with gold bars cast in the

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Speaker 2: shape of railway nails and painted black end quote. I

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Speaker 2: think it's safe to say our initial suspicions about the

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Speaker 2: Capustin case were definitely not paranoia. The statement I just

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Speaker 2: read out is backed with a ton of investigative work

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Speaker 2: that our anonymous source has spent a long time on.

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Speaker 2: Needless to say, the Kresnal Door Crier corruption issues are

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Speaker 2: by no means new. What I find most interesting about that, though,

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Speaker 2: was the last bit about the death of Konstantine Pluganov

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Speaker 2: in the Kersnal door Kryt region. That's the FSB officer

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Speaker 2: who was apparently genuinely trying to fight corruption in the area,

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Speaker 2: a very hard task knowing what we know now. He

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Speaker 2: was found dead in shallow waters with a bullet in

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Speaker 2: the back of his head, both legs tied together with rope.

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Speaker 1: The police calling.

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Speaker 2: Pluganov's death and unusual suicide almost feels like a very

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Speaker 2: macab in joke. Now it seems he committed suicide the

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Speaker 2: same way a CIA whistleblower might commit suicide. Shot in

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Speaker 2: the back of the skull. The suicide thesis obviously does

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Speaker 2: not add up.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: Both Kapustin and Pluganov were found dead in the same region.

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Speaker 2: The two areas are roughly three hours drive away from

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Speaker 2: each other, but the police in those areas answer to

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Speaker 2: the same boss, and both are accused of extreme corruption.

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Speaker 2: All this new information only reinforces for me the theory

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Speaker 2: that I put forward at the end of episode. Okay,

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Speaker 2: all right, now it's time for a quick outbreak. All right,

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Speaker 2: enough for that, Now back to the shore. I believe

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Speaker 2: Vitaly Kapusstin was murdered and it was shoddily covered up

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Speaker 2: by a police force that acts as an enforcement arm

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Speaker 2: for the district's corupt politicians and businessmen. And as I

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Speaker 2: was Sawce said, these bandits are swapped in and out

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Speaker 2: of Moscow and rewarded depending on how much money they

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Speaker 2: make this quasi deep state elite. Once again, all roads

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Speaker 2: lead to the Kremlin. Now let's get on with this

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Speaker 2: episode's case, the multi millionaire tycoon who found himself trapped

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Speaker 2: inside a Moscow gulak. July eighth, twenty twenty four, fifty

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Speaker 2: two year old oligarch Igor Katelnikov is in a bad

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Speaker 2: place mentally, physically, spiritually. Accused of fraud and embezzlement, He's

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Speaker 2: locked away in a dingy cell in a Moscow pre

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Speaker 2: trialed attention facility. These are considered some of the worst

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Speaker 2: prisoner apparatus in Russia. Conditions are absolutely horrendous. Overcrowding is

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Speaker 2: the main issue. Cells constructed for four people often hold

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Speaker 2: a dozen men at a time. They sleep in shifts

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Speaker 2: due to the lack of space that they can manage

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Speaker 2: to sleep at all. Humid, filthy, stinking in post trial

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Speaker 2: Russian prison colonies, inmates work outside, forced to do backbreaking labor.

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Speaker 2: Believe it or not, this is often preferred to the

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Speaker 2: nightmare of near twenty four hour lockup in pre trial detention.

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Speaker 2: Prisoners here get one hour outside the cell if they're lucky.

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Speaker 2: Even then, it's a monotonous walk in a small concrete

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Speaker 2: courtyard with a mesh fence roof above. It's claustrophobic, it's

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Speaker 2: stifling back inside the overcrowded cell. The open toilets are

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Speaker 2: often overflowing or blocked. The stench of shit and piss

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Speaker 2: and sweat and blood disgusting cockroaches scutted across the floor.

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Speaker 2: Rats are not uncommon either. Every crevice in the room

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Speaker 2: is a breeding ground for black mold and good luck.

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Speaker 2: If you get sick, there's no real doctor on site.

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Speaker 2: First aid is about as good as it gets. This

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Speaker 2: is the Sesspeit Katlnikov finds himself in. He is a

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Speaker 2: multi millionaire who's lived a very privileged life. He is

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Speaker 2: not built for this. He owns a fleet of expensive

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Speaker 2: foreign kaz As, serious upmarket real estate, first class flights,

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Speaker 2: expensive suits, find dining maids, drivers, the lot, the decay

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Speaker 2: and slow rot of overcrowded, sweaty jail cells is not

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Speaker 2: the five star treatment Katelnikov.

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Speaker 1: Is used to.

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Speaker 2: He's found himself in this predetention nightmare for messing around

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Speaker 2: with money that was meant to be sent to Russia's

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Speaker 2: war machine investment that will extend that Russia's massacre of

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Speaker 2: the people in Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: Where have we heard before?

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Speaker 2: Kotolnikov paces up and down in this small space he

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Speaker 2: has in the grotty shared cell. Despite the conditions, he

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Speaker 2: is actually in good health. Before he went in, he

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Speaker 2: was doing fine. The authorities who put him here in

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Speaker 2: this pre trial pit went him to testify it against

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Speaker 2: a man called Tima Ivanov. He's a former deputy minister

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Speaker 2: of the Russian Department of Defense.

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Speaker 1: We'll learn more about him later.

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Speaker 2: Prison guard opens up the heavy iron door to the

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Speaker 2: rancid cell and calls for Kotlnikov to come with him.

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Speaker 2: He's taken to speak with someone more senior, not a

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Speaker 2: prison officer, but a lawmaker attached to the case. There's

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Speaker 2: pressure to snitch on Ivanov. They want him to get

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Speaker 2: up into that perspex witness box in the Russian court.

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Speaker 1: And tell all.

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Speaker 2: But for whatever reason, Katelnikov will not do it. He refuses,

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Speaker 2: point blank, He's not going to inform. He will not

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Speaker 2: stand up in that court and speak against Ivanov some

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Speaker 2: kind of punishment for this refusal. After the meeting, Katelnikov

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Speaker 2: is put into solitary confinement, small cell, no windows, no communication,

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Speaker 2: and then Katelnikov dies. This is literally all we know

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Speaker 2: about his death. There are no other details anywhere. Nobody

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Speaker 2: is speaking. Did he die from the awful conditions some

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Speaker 2: and of health complication, or was he killed after being

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Speaker 2: put into solitary confinement. Katelnikov's role within what we'll discover

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Speaker 2: is a complicated web of military corruption leading all the

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Speaker 2: way to the Kremlin could quite likely be what got

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Speaker 2: his card punched. Avamurkachiva, a member of Russia's Presidential Council

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Speaker 2: for Human Rights, called the death suspicious and mentioned that

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Speaker 2: Katelnikov seemed to be in good health prior.

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Speaker 1: To his death.

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Speaker 2: Either way, July eighth was an especially unlucky day, as

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Speaker 2: another man involved in the Katelnikov case died on that

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Speaker 2: same date. What a coincidence. There's actually a bit of

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Speaker 2: an underlying pattern that I've not really mentioned on sad Oligarch.

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Speaker 2: But if you put all the dates and locations of

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Speaker 2: these strange deaths into a mapping program, there are notable

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Speaker 2: clusters here and debth. That's not to say someone is

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Speaker 2: planning the deaths on certain dates or anything, but I

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Speaker 2: think it does show there are potential links to these

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Speaker 2: dead oligarchs and their cronies that we've not quite worked

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Speaker 2: out yet. The elite network of the oligarch deep state

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Speaker 2: is quite a small world anyway. We'll get into the

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Speaker 2: Kotelnikov web of corruption in a bit, but first let's

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Speaker 2: establish who he really was. Let's talk to our friend Sergey.

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Speaker 2: So we know almost nothing at all about Kotelnikov's death

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Speaker 2: other than he was ushered away into solitary confinement after

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Speaker 2: refusing to give evidence against this Ivan offeler, and then

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Speaker 2: he died randomly dead.

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Speaker 1: Don't know anything else.

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Speaker 3: I think that's what's kind of interesting, Like it doesn't

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Speaker 3: seem like he has any kind of not background, Like

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Speaker 3: he's not, you know, a relative of anyone who's not

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Speaker 3: like some rich person's son. It kind of seems like

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Speaker 3: he he was the middleman for the military and like

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Speaker 3: different businesses, essentially running a fraud scheme. Like it almost

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Speaker 3: seems like he was an important till this thing happened, right,

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Speaker 3: and nobody kind of cared. And even in this story

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Speaker 3: he's kind of more so a witness for like the

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Speaker 3: higher military guys. Right, His main kind of prominence is

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Speaker 3: like he did he did a lot, right. He went

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Speaker 3: to the Bugalkov so ex deputy Minister of Defense. He

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Speaker 3: went to him, got him to give him different contracts.

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Speaker 3: It seems like mostly in the food kind of like

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Speaker 3: logistics area, right, So not not particularly like weapons or

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Speaker 3: anything like that, but food rations for the military.

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Speaker 2: So this is where the fraud and embezzlement began, at

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Speaker 2: least for the case that landed Kotelnikov in jail. Who

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Speaker 2: knows what else he got away with before this. Now

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Speaker 2: he was already rich and up to no goods, but

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Speaker 2: he was kind of a nobody as far as go

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Speaker 2: until this. It doesn't seem he was on anyone's radar

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Speaker 2: still through his state contacts, from working on government projects

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Speaker 2: through his various businesses. Kotelnikov got a contract to supply

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Speaker 2: rations to Russian soldiers invading Ukraine. These rations are meant

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Speaker 2: to sustain soldiers for a day or two between supply

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Speaker 2: line runs whilst fighting in the trenches.

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Speaker 1: A typical ration pack.

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Speaker 2: For them includes canned meat, dry crackers, a bit of chocolate,

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Speaker 2: a bit fruit, a drink, and sometimes matches to get

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Speaker 2: field supply stoves going. At least that's what's meant to

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Speaker 2: be in their rations. There are multiple reports of Russian

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Speaker 2: soldiers tearing open their packs to find nowhere near the

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Speaker 2: right items, or not even having enough to go around.

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Speaker 2: This was happening even at the very start of the war. Okay,

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Speaker 2: all right, now it is time for a quick tagbreak.

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Speaker 2: All right, enough for that, Now back to the shop.

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Speaker 2: This from a twenty twenty two Reuter's article explains the issues.

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Speaker 2: Quote all soldiers on the front mentioned an acute shortage

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Speaker 2: of supplies. The sources described little or no safe drinking water,

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Speaker 2: field rations for one man being shared among several and

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Speaker 2: units having to scavenge for food. We drank water with

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Speaker 2: dead frogs in it, said a student conscript. Supplies for

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Speaker 2: the soldiers right now are a disaster. So the source

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Speaker 2: close to the don Yatsk separatist leadership, who spoke on

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Speaker 2: condition of anonymity. Neither the Kremlin nor the separatist authorities

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Speaker 2: replied to Reuter's questions about supplies and equipment for the

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Speaker 2: draftees from Dombas end quote. No surprise there. Honestly, I

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Speaker 2: don't get why they didn't get rid of the frogs

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Speaker 2: in the water before they drank it, But anyway, that's

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Speaker 2: a d n R four yea. As we can see,

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Speaker 2: issues with rations have been a serious problem throughout the invasion,

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Speaker 2: from the start to the present. Even so, what was

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Speaker 2: the full scam that Ktelnikov and several collaborators got caught

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Speaker 2: red handed in the middle of surgery explains.

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Speaker 3: Pretty typical scheme. They do this in a lot of

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Speaker 3: industries with different products, but this one specifically seems like

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Speaker 3: they were responsible for getting rations for the Russian military.

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Speaker 3: Usually it would be like canned food, dry dry food

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Speaker 3: that can kind of last long, you know, typical military rations.

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Speaker 1: They were supposed to be.

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Speaker 3: Delivering, from my understanding, canned beef and you know, kind

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Speaker 3: of process it and it kind of looks like a

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Speaker 3: very processed slop of meat. It's I mean, like, I'm

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Speaker 3: sure it's better than nothing, but it's not great to

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Speaker 3: begin with. And what they were doing is, first they

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Speaker 3: were using cheaper materials. The biggest d of standout is

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Speaker 3: they were ordering beef, they were getting chicken instead, or

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Speaker 3: they were mixing other meats together to kind of reduce

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Speaker 3: the price that they had to pay right much cheaper

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Speaker 3: to get chicken than beef, especially this time. I'm sure

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Speaker 3: then some deliveries were just not making it. They were

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Speaker 3: basically doing everything they could to lower the price while

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Speaker 3: delivering the minimum, and they get to keep the difference.

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Speaker 3: The damages are one point three billion rubles. Let's say

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Speaker 3: they had contracts, and this was various contracts from the military,

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Speaker 3: not one giant contract. If they got all these contracts,

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Speaker 3: they can cut a little here, cut a little there,

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Speaker 3: and you know, keep half the money if they if

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Speaker 3: they're good enough while making it seem like they're delivering

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Speaker 3: what they need to, they're fulfilling their orders and the

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Speaker 3: military is getting what it needs. You know, they're getting

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Speaker 3: these contracts from the military, so I'm sure whoever is

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Speaker 3: in charge can also kind of say like, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: we're good, we're getting what we need.

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Speaker 2: Now this bit is why, this is how the scam

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Speaker 2: became a full on conspiracy. Now, I know it's all

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Speaker 2: a bit confus using, so let me break it down

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Speaker 2: simply to make the chain work and to steal a

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Speaker 2: lot more money. Several people in the circle needed to

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Speaker 2: be involved in the same way as the people outside

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Speaker 2: of the circle. The circle in this case being the military.

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Speaker 2: Katolnikov needed people on the inside that were okay with

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Speaker 2: fucking over their own soldiers to make a buck. Turns

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Speaker 2: out there were plenty, So think of it this way.

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Speaker 2: Katnikov and his link into the military contract to supply

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Speaker 2: food for rations A, person A and B. They need

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Speaker 2: someone within the military to get the dodgy rations into

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Speaker 2: rotation and sign it all off without a hitch. This

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Speaker 2: is persons C. To keep the fraud going and pocket

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Speaker 2: bigger profits, they need all the i's dotted and all

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Speaker 2: the t's crossed.

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Speaker 1: For this.

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Speaker 2: They need a few people close to accounting and supply

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Speaker 2: to essentially forge documents, lie about money, keep everything moving.

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Speaker 2: This is person D, E, F and so on. A

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Speaker 2: chain is built up. The more people involved usually means

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Speaker 2: the less money to go around. But these people all

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Speaker 2: became a cog in the operation. Person DEE and F

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Speaker 2: wouldn't make money without person A, B and C.

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Speaker 1: You get it.

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Speaker 2: Everyone started making money by facilitating the supply of dodgy

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Speaker 2: food to soldiers who are sent out to fight a

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Speaker 2: war for Putin's megalamania and frantic paranoia. Honestly, I cannot

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Speaker 2: think of a more perfect situation to demonstrate the characteristics

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Speaker 2: of Putin's Russia in twenty twenty five. It's almost two

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Speaker 2: on the nose. I think something else was going on though,

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Speaker 2: as well, because, like you said, okay, his companies were

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Speaker 2: making like, you know, a collective maybe seven eight million

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Speaker 2: dollars in US money, which is is good money, obviously,

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Speaker 2: Like fuck me, it's it's incredible. I wish I was

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Speaker 2: making money like that, but that doesn't really put you

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Speaker 2: at the oligarch states he was at. He had from

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Speaker 2: what I see, he had like a fleet of cars,

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Speaker 2: all this real estate, and I think the fact he's

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Speaker 2: involved in this case as well as we see he's

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Speaker 2: doing some kind of corruption, stealing from the government, stealing

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Speaker 2: from the military in the middle of you know, Russia's invasion,

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Speaker 2: which is a huge no no, as we've learned during

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Speaker 2: this series. That itself makes me think, well, this is

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Speaker 2: not his first rodeo. You know, his money has been

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Speaker 2: coming from somewhere else as well as these businesses, perhaps

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Speaker 2: their front for something else. I don't know, it's just speculation,

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Speaker 2: but I don't think it's unreasonable.

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Speaker 1: No, one hundred percent.

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Speaker 3: If he's already kind of involved in this, right, he

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Speaker 3: clearly knows what he's doing. He knows people's kind of

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Speaker 3: what's interesting. I think a lot of these cases we

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Speaker 3: see politicians or somebody who's in some way has some

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Speaker 3: kind of power, whether they were on a committee of

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Speaker 3: like a regional office, or they were like some kind

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Speaker 3: of parliamentarian. Again, he kind of seems like the middleman,

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Speaker 3: and he kind of seems like maybe the domino that started,

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Speaker 3: kind of like a domino effect, because we see that

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Speaker 3: a lot of multiple officers or like some kind of

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Speaker 3: military ranking guys start getting arrested or removed from their

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Speaker 3: offices following his arrest. So I don't know if there

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Speaker 3: was an investigation on going and then they kind of,

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Speaker 3: you know, started taking people out if he got arrested

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Speaker 3: and then he maybe sold somebody out or something, But

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Speaker 3: it definitely seems like he was doing a lot of

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Speaker 3: the connecting, and I think he knew a lot of

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Speaker 3: the I guess you could say operation maybe from there

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Speaker 3: that's where like the investigation is going on.

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Speaker 2: This case gets even more complicated and even more strange.

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Speaker 2: So I'm going to break it down into two parts.

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Speaker 2: This is part of Next Week, Part two. You've been

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Speaker 2: listening to sad Oliga season two, produced by H eleven

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Speaker 2: Studios for.

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Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media.

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Speaker 2: Writing, editing, producing, concept and recording by myself, Jake Hanrahan.

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Speaker 2: Research and reporting by Sergei Slipchenko, Me and Victim Mihail.

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Speaker 2: Executive producing by Sophie Lichtmin. Music by Sam Black at

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Speaker 2: work by George Zutful. Sound mixed by Splicing Block. See

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Speaker 2: my other projects at Hanrahan dot tv. Get me on

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Speaker 2: social media at Jake the School Hanrahan.

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Speaker 1: That's h A N r A h A N

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Speaker 2: Mhm