Comrades! Let us cast our gaze upon the latest theatrical performance from the halls of the Ministry of Finance. The Minister, Mr. Siluanov, with a boldness that can only be described as pure audacity, dares to claim that there is no 'spike' in fuel prices. Behold the logic of the ruling class: when the working man finds his purse lightened and his carriage empty, the Minister simply closes his eyes and declares the phenomenon non-existent!

When questioned by the journalist Mr. Yunashev as to whether the budget must account for these price surges, the Minister replied with a sneer of disagreement. He admits, with a flick of his wrist, that prices have risen at 'independent' stations—those smaller ventures—but insists that the 'systemically important companies' (read: the great monopolies of capital) have kept their increases 'insignificant.'

Is this not the very essence of bourgeois hypocrisy? They protect the great monopolies, the behemoths of capital that strangle the market, while the proletariat is left to suffer the yoke of exploitation!

Since the month of May, the authorities have pretended to keep a 'watchful eye' on the fuel market, particularly as reports of shortages rained down from the provinces of Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Krasnodar Territory. The Federal Antimonopoly Service has sent polite 'recommendations' for 'responsible pricing'—as if a wolf could be persuaded by a letter to stop devouring the sheep! They speak of 'enhanced control' in sixteen territorial organs, yet the greed of the fuel barons remains unabated.

And what of the State Duma? On the 24th of June, they passed amendments to the Tax Code, ostensibly to 'stimulate' the market. In truth, these 'damping mechanisms' and tax adjustments are but sophisticated tools to ensure that the flow of gold continues to stream upward, away from the laborers and into the coffers of the financial aristocracy.

Mr. Sazanov, the Deputy Minister, further assures us that the budget shall suffer no extra expenses. He speaks of 'reducing payments on reverse excise taxes' due to lower refining volumes. Mark my words, comrades: while the ministers discuss their ledgers and accounting tricks, the common worker pays the price of this systemic greed. The monopolies feast, the bureaucrats lie, and the proletariat is left to toil under the crushing weight of an artificial scarcity designed solely for the enrichment of the few!