Wikileaks: "Russia and Its Intelligence Agencies Are Using Mafia Bosses to Carry Out Criminal Operations"

The U.K. Guardian (11-28-10) reports that Wikileaks provided the newspaper with "[allegations that Russia and its intelligence agencies are using mafia bosses to carry out criminal operations, with one cable reporting that the relationship is so close that the country has become a "virtual mafia state."

That Russia has been and is a "virtual mafia state" is not exactly news; and in any case, the nature of the Russians' criminal operations are not detailed. The Guardian is constrained by the U.K. libel laws, and some Russian moguls live in the U.K; maybe this explains why the Guardian passed copies of what Wikileaks gave them to the N.Y. Times.

I don't think that newspapers reveal much about what the criminal structures that have co-opted Russian intelligence agencies are up to, at least intentionally.