After the crumbling of the Kremlin, life in Russia turned hard - especially for ex-KGB officers. No longer could they rely on a corrupt system to protect them from retaliating forces and individuals who were suppressed and harassed during the Communist era. Some say the former Soviet Union was run by organized crime for almost 75 years. Be that as it may - facts are that large parts of the army suddenly found themselves in a void lacking proper funding and guidance. So - underpaid, understaffed and under equipped, many ambitious ex-KGB officers had to do zapodlo (shady business) with the underworld just to make ends meet.
In St. Petersburg, ex-KGB officers regularly do zapodlo with the local vor (crime boss) of one of the biggest mafia organizations. Rumours have it that a torpedo (underworld Russian slang for a contract killer) has been hired to take out one of the officers turned suki (traitor).
The commodity these officers usually trade in is arms - of all kinds and quantities. Now corruption, not control, rules the country. And these officers still have connections high in the nomenklatura (members of the government elite) - as well as access to nuclear weapons...............