Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Taisiya Svetlichnaya
[Regnum] Just before the new round of peace talks in Ukraine, another corruption scandal erupted, affecting the leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Police, and the Prosecutor General's Office.
As part of the second phase of the large-scale Operation Carthage, anti-corruption authorities released 54 minutes of recordings of conversations between alleged members of a criminal organization involved in fraud, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, kidnapping, and torture.
The security forces who were supposed to fight crimes, according to investigators, instead received millions of dollars to cover them up.
On November 4, detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) detained SBU Major General Serhiy Duka, First Deputy Head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood. He refused to surrender, threatening the detectives with a firearm and preventing them from conducting a court-authorized search, calling in special forces.
He was later detained, and in total, about 70 searches were conducted as part of the operation.
Ukrainian media outlets report that the acting head of the National Police's Department of Strategic Investigations, Volodymyr Tsenov, a high-ranking official in the Kyiv Oblast criminal investigation department, Oleksandr Demyanchuk, and a certain Major General, Oleksandr Rybalko, have also been detained.
The NABU names a man with three previous convictions, nicknamed "Kriminal," as the organizer of the new criminal organization.
According to journalists, this is Andriy Osipov, who has connections among high-ranking SBU officials. He was previously convicted of robbery, illegal seizure of a vehicle, and hooliganism. In 2022, Osipov came to the attention of anti-corruption authorities for allegedly extorting a million dollars on behalf of the security service in exchange for refusing to extradite another person.
The most interesting thing is that investigators consider his partner to be Russian citizen Yegor Burkin, nicknamed "The Mexican," who is linked to the creation of the transnational drug cartel "Khimprom."
In 2016, Burkin was wanted in Russia and moved to Ukraine. His connections in the highest echelons of Ukrainian power are legendary.
Since 2019, Ukrainian law enforcement has been searching for him for some reason, but to no avail. Burkin's whereabouts are currently unknown.
According to NABU, after the investigation began, Meksianets did not curtail his criminal activities, but rather somehow expanded them. To do this, he needed connections in law enforcement, which Kriminal was supposed to provide.
He maintained close ties with high-ranking officials who, like him, were born, raised, and began their careers in the Zhytomyr region.
"It was by exploiting these rather friendly and close ties, particularly with senior SBU officials, that Kriminal was able to become a co-organizer of a criminal organization from 2022 to the fall of 2025. Kriminal and Meksianets agreed to join forces to expand their criminal activities on mutually beneficial terms," the NABU stated, noting that the Zhytomyr mafioso's circle of friends also included SBU officers involved in the attempt to deprive the anti-corruption vertical of its independence in the summer of 2025.
Fraudulent call centers continue to occupy a special place in the investigation, as a result of the attack on them during the first stage of Carthage, which forced the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko, to resign and flee the country.
NABU identified at least 52 offices employing approximately 2,700 people. They defrauded residents of Ukraine, the European Union, and other countries, and the proceeds were distributed among the organization's members and their supposed patrons.
The cost of protecting one call center was $7,000 per month. At the beginning of the month, the organizers provided the office addresses to law enforcement, and by the fifth, they transferred the funds to cryptocurrency wallets. After payment, the office could continue operating without fear of searches.
However, the system occasionally malfunctioned. When police finally seized equipment from one of the call centers, the participants in the scheme attempted to reclaim it through the courts. The recordings discuss filing five identical complaints with Kyiv's Pechersky District Court in an attempt to be assigned to the right judge through automated case assignment.
According to the investigative project "Schemes," approximately $47,000 in cryptocurrency was transferred for the return of the equipment.
When Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded a stronger fight against fraudulent call centers in late July 2026, the organization's supposed patrons warned its members of the danger. They were advised to temporarily curtail their operations, remove their equipment, delete their correspondence, and move their offices to ordinary apartments.
NABU also names the U420 chain of stores, which sold psychoactive substances under the guise of souvenirs, as another criminal enterprise. According to investigators, the chain was owned by a Mexican, and Kriminal received a cut of the sales.
Participants in the conversations discussed how to change the chemical formulas of substances sold so that they would not fall under government bans. The problem was that after each amendment to the list of banned substances, products had to be replaced and remaining stocks destroyed.
The recordings discuss the possibility of bribing officials capable of influencing relevant decisions. The conversations mention the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Health, and the head of a parliamentary faction. Journalists speculate that the person in question may have been David Arakhamia, who leads the Servant of the People faction and is Zelenskyy's chief political manager in the Verkhovna Rada.
And they don’t just assume that.
Simultaneously with all these events, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the acting Prosecutor General to register a notice of suspicion against Arakhamia. And although the notice cannot yet be served on him, the NABU will be able to investigate the criminal case, including questioning witnesses and serving notices of suspicion on people close to the suspect who are not members of parliament.
But this, one could say, is an announcement of the next series.
For now, there are enough episodes to make you shake your head at everything that the people appointed to ensure order and legality did.
For example, the group organized contract beatings, kidnappings, and torture, with some attacks carried out with the assistance of police and the SBU. In one such attack, in which a man was beaten with a metal pipe, the perpetrators received near-real-time information about the victim's movements via the "Safe City" video surveillance system.
Access was granted through the account of an employee of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood of the Security Service of Ukraine.
After this, the participants in the beating were informed that the "Intercept" plan had not been implemented, and they successfully left the city. Subsequently, correspondence began discussing how to redirect the investigation to a lesser charge and confuse the investigators.
According to NABU, attacks also occurred outside of Ukraine, specifically in Vienna. After victims reported their cases to the police, members of the organization allegedly received information about the progress of investigations and the presence of foreign law enforcement officers.
The materials even include a photograph from a meeting of European law enforcement officials on the gang's case, which Kriminal forwarded to an accomplice on April 9, 2025. It is still unknown who exactly transmitted the confidential photo.
Investigators also allege that the defendants are involved in organizing an underground production of counterfeit euro banknotes. In 2026, the group members equipped a special workshop with printing equipment and holographic matrices. The correspondence discussed the production of banknotes in denominations ranging from 5 to 500 euros, their quality, and their resemblance to genuine currency.
According to NABU, Demyanchuk, deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kyiv region, was involved in organizing this business.
The final part of the NABU investigation covers events from the summer of 2025, when Ukrainian authorities attempted to limit the independence of anti-corruption agencies.
Thus, the new materials have expanded the investigation far beyond the prosecutor's office, touching on active SBU generals, police leadership, and representatives of the criminal underworld.
On the evening of November 4, Acting Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Oleksandr Poklad announced the dismissal of two high-ranking intelligence officers implicated in the case. He pledged his willingness to cooperate with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), and foreign law enforcement agencies.
"I suggest he come to Ukraine and surrender to law enforcement. Or we'll find him ourselves, wherever he's hiding. We have the experience," Poklad told Meksianets, but that's more like putting a brave face on a bad situation. Especially since in February, Zelenskyy, on camera, suggested he "cleanse the SBU of those who serve interests other than Ukraine."
The blow to the "office" was colossal, and it's worth remembering that the SBU, the National Police, and the Prosecutor General's Office were the three main pillars of power for Zelenskyy, who has a complex relationship with the army.
And if before the "hut" was untouchable, now its new status has been revealed to Ukrainian society, and to Western partners – the true face of Ukrainian "democracy" and "European values."
Ahead lies the identification of all the participants in the alleged organization, the investigation of international incidents, the origin of cryptocurrency transfers, and the circumstances of the possible transfer of funds to specific officials. And the further this documentary series progresses, the more difficult it becomes to tear yourself away from the picture of what Ukraine has become in just 12 short years since the Maidan, which opened up truly unique opportunities for the new "elite."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The US Congress has been openly sabotaging all initiatives to normalize relations with Russia in recent years. This was stated by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on November 5.
Speaking about the prospects for developing bilateral relations with Washington, the diplomat urged waiting for the final formation of the US Congress and the adoption of relevant laws concerning Russia.
"But it's important to remember and not forget: over the past few years, we've seen Congress, where a persistent anti-Russian consensus has formed, openly sabotaging ideas and initiatives aimed at at least a relative normalization of bilateral relations," Zakharova said during a briefing.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted that Moscow is closely monitoring the results of the US congressional elections, which resulted in a victory for the Democratic Party. She stated that changes in the composition of the Senate and House of Representatives will impact various areas of the country, including legislative initiatives and foreign policy. Zakharova emphasized that these elections are an internal matter for the US.
On November 3, the US held congressional elections, known as midterm elections. According to preliminary results, the Republican Party, to which US President Donald Trump belongs, is losing control of both houses of parliament. The White House president stated his readiness to accept the results of the midterm elections and work with representatives of the Democratic Party.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on November 5 that the results of the US Congressional elections will not affect the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, and that Russia's interests will be ensured in any case.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] Why Brussels Needs Georgian Justice: The European Union wants direct influence over Georgia's judiciary in order to exonerate protesters and rioters in the future, stated Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.
In its report, which was circulated in local media, the European Commission stated that the country's authorities should vet and appoint judges, even to the High Council of Justice of Georgia, "with a decisive role for international experts."
"Why do they want this? So that in the future, no one who commits violence at rallies will be held accountable for their actions, because once Brussels takes over the Georgian justice system, they will not convict any of the perpetrators and will acquit everyone," Papuashvili said. Sounds familiar
Regarding the question of why the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was purged before the start of the SVO and why the local Constitutional Tribunal is being purged in Poland, this is a systemic EU policy of establishing the dictate of the European judiciary and suppressing local resistance to Brussels.
Georgians have become somewhat smarter since the time of Saakashvili.
[GatewayPundit] Are There Any Honest Mathematicians in America Today? Latest Turnout Numbers from 2026 Midterms Look Suspicious and Frankly Impossible
On Tuesday, Democrats swept the midterm elections with shocking wins across the country, including sweeping Texas and winning US Senate seats in deep red states including South Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Mississippi (likely), and even Texas.
At The Gateway Pundit, we have postponed our public announcements on the reasons for this historic midterm bloodbath.
We are still looking at Tuesday’s numbers and starting to see more shocking coincidences. These released results require ‘a willing suspension of disbelief.’
Earlier TGP reported on squishy James Talarico’s weirdly impossible numbers. The pro-trans kids Texas candidate may have been missing for two weeks during the end of the campaign but that didn’t stop him from winning in a landslide against Republican stalwart Ken Paxton.
In fact, weirdo Talarico won more Democrat votes than ALL Democrat Texas candidates since 2016, including three Democrat presidential campaigns!
How is that possible?
A state that President Trump won handily in 2024 - just two years ago - with a 14% victory over Kamala Harris!
#3
In my mailbox this morning from Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson:
Georgia, thank you.
Thank you to everyone who believed in this campaign, who knocked doors, made calls, sent texts, put up signs, prayed for us, and stood with us.
Georgia gave me a chance. People of faith gave me hope. I knew that a kid who had very little could still build a life of purpose. That is why I ran, to try to make an impact for 11 million Georgians, especially those who feel like they don’t have anyone fighting for them.
That work is not over.
From the bottom of my heart, thanks to each and every one of you for believing in me.
Thank you for believing in this campaign. Thank you for praying for me… I never felt God’s presence as strongly as I have over the past months.
Thank you for showing me every day all that is good about Georgia. I saw Georgia’s goodness in the over hundred communities I visited and in the faces of the thousands of Georgians I met on the campaign trail, and whose stories I heard.
Every person, and every story I heard, touched my heart, and will always be carried with me.
Thank you for everything. God bless you, and God bless Georgia.
[HotAir] There is absolutely nothing wrong with elected officials with immigrant backgrounds shouting out to their fellow immigrants in their home language.
It's just that usually they do so in a line or two, as part of a long list of groups and people they want to thank. And in elections where one of the main concerns was whether social cohesion was being undermined, you would expect reassuring people that you want to serve everybody to be at the top of the list of priorities.
Yeah, well, not so much. In today's America, when a person in an ethnic or religious minority wins, the first thing they do is give the finger to anybody they dislike.
[Axios] A federal judge temporarily blocked construction of President Trump's much-contested triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, hours after the project received final planning approval.
Why it matters: The 14-day order halts the Trump administration's plans to begin work immediately on the 250-foot arch as the court considers lawsuits challenging the project's legality.
Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order early Friday barring construction of the arch for 14 days in response to a lawsuit brought by D.C. and Virginia.
The order prohibits construction, excavation, land disturbance, utility installation and road closures related to the arch. The administration must certify its compliance to the court by Monday, Nov. 9.
[FOX] California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he will spare the lives of 548 inmates currently on the state’s death row, effectively clearing capital punishment in the state years after issuing an executive moratorium on executions.
In a letter to constituents, Newsom, a Democrat, declared the state's capital punishment system fundamentally flawed, error-prone, and morally incompatible with California’s core values.
"After nearly 30 years in public office, I have come to understand the limits of what government can justly accomplish," Newsom wrote. "I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us."
#3
I'll give Newsome and some Judge 90 days to "wipe out" or open the California section of the border wall. The next official Census Day is April, 2030. The clock is ticking.
#4
548 victims denied justice. Meanwhile the death penalty will be continued in our streets, homes, business, and schools. When the thugs carry out the death penalty, they have more power than the state.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] US President Donald Trump may increase pressure on Ukraine following the Republican Party's loss of the majority in the US Congress following the midterm elections. This was reported on November 4 by the British newspaper The Telegraph.
As the newspaper notes, Trump, despite paying attention to the opinions of European leaders, is convinced that the fastest way to end the conflict in Ukraine is to force Ukraine to capitulate and then normalize relations with Russia.
The authors of the article explained that European countries, by providing military and financial support to Ukraine, are protecting the head of the Kyiv regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, from pressure from the United States.
Earlier that day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the results of the US congressional elections would not impact the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. He emphasized that Russia will ensure its interests in any case, whether by military or peaceful means.
On November 3, the US held congressional elections, known as midterm elections. According to preliminary results, Trump's Republican Party is losing control of both chambers of parliament—the House of Representatives and the Senate. Afterward, the White House chief stated his willingness to accept the midterm election results and work with Democratic representatives. He admitted that he had expected a better result from the Republicans, and was therefore a bit surprised.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
No biggy — this is Israel’s process.
[Regnum] A week has passed since the parliamentary elections in Israel, but it is still impossible to say with certainty who ultimately won. That’s because the process is putting together a coalition, not merely getting the most votes or seats in the Knesset.
In terms of points, supporters of the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retained the lead (53 mandates), but in terms of the level of support from relatively neutral (for example, Arab) forces, the opposition, represented by the Change Bloc, pulled far ahead.
None of the Arab parties are neutral, they just ae measured by a different meteric than the usual left-right scale.
Uncertainty breeds conflict and nervousness. Netanyahu is looking for any way to cling to power, further eroding his political standing. The opposition, however, is faring no better: buoyed by their interim success, the prime minister's opponents have begun to divvy up seats, some of which were never intended to be vacated.
"THEY STOLE THE ELECTION."
The government bloc is convinced that the Israeli elite has become the victim of a cunning international intervention operation designed to destabilize Israel.
Even during the preliminary vote count—when it became clear that Arab parties were receiving far more than predicted—loyalists of the ruling Likud party began complaining to the prosecutor's office, the Central Election Commission, and counterintelligence, calling for an investigation into "numerous violations" in Arab neighborhoods, including cases of vote-buying and systematic ballot stuffing.
Other politicians from Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc later joined the call : from their point of view, the actions were carried out with money from Qatar and, possibly, Turkey.
It's reached the point of ridiculousness. Netanyahu himself wrote on his official channel that Israel's neighbors "stole the election" and grossly interfered in the internal affairs of a sovereign country. These statements provoked vitriolic responses from opponents.
"It's great that Netanyahu has finally acknowledged Qatargate and the damage it has caused," one senior opposition figure wrote on social media.
Qatar reacted much more sharply to the unexpected attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari called on the Israelis to stop speculating and not drag Doha into other countries' domestic political disputes and disputes.
"They accuse us of buying Netanyahu, the left—and now the Arab vote. If all this is to be believed, Qatar probably owns all of Israel," the diplomat snapped.
They also failed to appease the election controllers or even slightly reduce the percentage of support for the Arab list parties of the ruling coalition. The Central Election Commission declared the elections valid. As the chairman of the election commission, Noam Solberg, later stated, even if interference did occur in some districts, it did not fundamentally change the final balance of power.
Solberg's position was supported by counterintelligence chief David Zini and government legal adviser Gali Baharav-Miara. Both noted that most of the activists' complaints were unfounded.
Paradoxically, no "Iranian connection" was found in the Likud vote-stealing story. Although some bloggers loyal to Netanyahu wrote about Tehran's attempts to interfere with the vote on election day.
However, responsibility for these interventions was later retroactively shifted to the Arabs and Turks. Meanwhile, the prime minister's public hysteria caused confusion among his allies, especially among the ordinary electorate, who had become accustomed to the image of the "all-powerful Bibi" and did not understand his sudden bargaining with the Central Election Commission.
THE OPPOSITION IS ARGUING
The Prime Minister's opposition "Change Bloc," led by former Chief of the General Staff Gadi Eisenkot, would be happy to enjoy the vacillations of its opponents if it were not itself immersed in numerous squabbles, including those over the "Arab question."
It turned out that not all opposition members agree to form an expanded coalition with Arab parties (which together account for up to 19 mandates) in order to obtain a parliamentary majority.
Moreover, some of them would rather agree to a temporary alliance with Netanyahu as a more reliable and predictable political player. This came as an unpleasant surprise to Arab politicians, who had already put forward a lengthy list of conditions, including improving the standard of living in ethnic neighborhoods.
Moreover, with the start of behind-the-scenes negotiations to form an interim coalition, mistrust between the leaders of the opposition parties has naturally deepened. Even though almost all the leaders of the Change Bloc publicly and regularly declare the impossibility of an alliance with Netanyahu, mutual suspicions persist.
Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and former close associate of the prime minister, is being targeted the most. His fellow members of the Change Bloc see him as a potential defector (especially since Lieberman has switched sides in the past to suit political expediency), and his attempts to lobby for his candidates for Knesset Speaker and to divide up the as-yet-undetermined ministerial portfolios are perceived as subversive.
But Eisenkot is bearing the brunt of the blame. His coalition allies are openly disappointed, calling his election strategy "the campaign of an egotist" who put his own political brand above the opposition's strategic goals and ultimately paid for it by losing some of his mandates.
And although the majority still see the former Chief of the General Staff as the head of the future government, his proposals for other portfolios are not received with much enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, tensions are rapidly rising. In the coming days, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with the leaders of the winning parties and choose the side that will be the first to attempt to form a government.
The intrigue is being maintained until the very end—Netanyahu and Eisenkot have virtually equal chances in this matter (the only difference being that the prime minister has more initial mandates, while the former Chief of the General Staff has more potential tactical allies). However, rumors are circulating that Herzog is increasingly leaning toward the "proven candidate" of Netanyahu.
If he gets the right to make the first move, he will have a better chance of gaining an advantage on the ideological front and convincing some of the nominal opposition parties to join his coalition.
Moreover, unlike Eisenkot and some of his supporters, the current prime minister is less principled and is willing to "share power" with the overwhelming majority of politicians from the opposing camp. And, if absolutely necessary, even form a "salvation government" with the opposition. After all, it is precisely such temporary structures that typically help Netanyahu maintain his position.
Meanwhile, tensions have further increased following the Republicans' disastrous US congressional elections, where they lost both chambers. Without a course correction, Israel risks becoming a toxic asset for both Democrats and Republicans, losing some of its weapons supplies and support for expansion in the Middle East.
This is precisely what the opposition is currently pressing hard, blaming Netanyahu for everything. For the prime minister, the situation, while risky, also offers an opportunity to increase his political clout by demonstrating to voters that his course is not dependent on the mood and distribution of seats in Washington.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[HotAir] There is absolutely nothing wrong with elected officials with immigrant backgrounds shouting out to their fellow immigrants in their home language. 
[Axios] A federal judge temporarily blocked construction of President Trump's much-contested triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, hours after the project received final planning approval.
