Sam Koppelman

So, you remember that video that we started this whole conversation with?

from Russian state media showing the GRU soldier.

That actually came to us from Nina.

She wanted us to see, this is legitimate military equipment.

This is what troops are actually using.

And when we asked about alternatives, she was blunt.

She said, quote, there are no stable, inexpensive alternatives to this manufacturer.

And they specified, quote, 95% of shipments to the SVO are ubiquity.

And the SVO, just to clarify here, is... Yeah, that's the Russian euphemism for the war against Ukraine.

Special military operation.

But even after Nina gave us that 95% number, we kind of just wanted to see what she'd tell us if we kept pushing.

Right.

If we really leaned into quality control.

Exactly.

So once our undercover reporter had this tech gear saleswoman in the upscale Moscow apartment showing us how much Putin's special ops guys loved using it, we ended up asking if she had any other evidence that these devices were safely being delivered to Russian soldiers.

Yeah, and you know, Pablo, how when you're reporting a story, you hope there's going to be a true smoking gun?

Like if you had that picture of Steve Ballmer handing Kawhi a check.

Yeah, saying like, do not do work for aspiration.

They must pay you to not show up.

On this one, we actually got one of the craziest smoking guns I've ever seen.