By the time you read this exclusive translation, the original article will probably have been pulled from the net by censors. We found this remarkable posting in the “Forum” section of the official website of the MVD RF – the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation – the siloviki agency responsible for, among other things, the country’s police force. The author is apparently a policeman himself, addressing his colleagues. He posted his message on Friday evening, quite likely because, as one of the many people who have already commented on the article explains, “there usually aren’t moderators on the site weekends.” By the way, the overwhelming majority of the incredible number of readers who have left comments have chosen to remain anonymous, while the bulk of those who do provide a name give a pseudonym and don’t provide their email address, no doubt in the naïve belief that this will make it less likely their true identity can be traced by the organs.

Subject: WE ARE THE REGIME’S DOGS ON A CHAIN
Author:
Date: 19.12.2008 20:48

Dear colleagues. Russia is found at a critical boundary. Economic catastrophe is drawing near. Hundreds of thousands of our compatriots, our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters will be thrown out on the street. This crisis has opened the eyes of the people, has shown who is who in our country. The soap bubble of the stabilization fund has burst and has not brought us benefit. Billions of petrodollars flowed as a river to us, but our rulers did not even think of putting this money into the development of the economy, science, agriculture, many sectors. And now they are rendering assistance to bankers, allocating them 5 trillion rubles at 5 percent, so those would give out loans to our enterprises at 20 percent per year.