Hackers Attacked The "heart" Of Putin's Economy

The St. Petersburg Commodity Exchange was put out of business.

Hackers of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar military movement Atesh have carried out a cyber operation against the Russian Federation. They "put down" a key Russian commodities exchange, through which up to 99% of organized trading in Russian resources, including oil, gas and coal, takes place.

The platform, through which the Kremlin makes money for the war against Ukraine, has been temporarily suspended. Details were reported in the Telegram channel "Atesh".

Atesh claims that the movement's cyber specialists attacked the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange.

"Our specialists have knocked out the key Kremlin commodities exchange where the Putin regime's main resources are traded. Spimex.com is the largest commodity exchange in the Russian Federation, through which 99% of organized trading in oil and oil products, gas, coal, timber, metals, construction materials and agricultural products takes place. Today, this exchange is one of the pillars of the bloody Putin regime, which is waging war in Ukraine and killing its own citizens," the movement said.

The St. Petersburg Exchange was established in May 2008 on the orders of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. It started with trading oil products, and as of 2023 the exchange was structured in the following commodity sections and areas: oil products, oil, gas, energy carriers, timber, chemical products, biological resources, derivatives market (derivatives market).

According to data from open sources, at the end of 2024, the St. Petersburg Exchange will sell 37 million tons of oil products (as well as certain categories of goods produced from oil and gas) worth RUB 2.154 trillion, 9.18 billion m³ of natural gas, 5.3 million cubic meters of timber, 146,000 tons of mineral fertilizers. In 2023 (as in previous years), every fourth ton of basic oil products (motor gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, fuel oil) supplied to the domestic market of the Russian Federation will be sold through the exchange.

According to the Russian state agency TASS, at the end of 2024, "net profit increased by 79% to 6.797 billion rubles. At the same time, a record 37.192 million tons of oil products were sold through the exchange in 2024 (20% more than a year earlier)."

"Oil trading on the exchange increased by 4.8% to 2.215 million tons, wood - by 9.8% to 5.338 million cubic meters, sugar - by 77.7% to 76.5 thousand tons. The volume of exchange trading in coal increased five times compared to 2023 - up to 1.343 million tons. The total turnover of trading on all sections of SPIMEX in monetary terms amounted to 2.337 trillion rubles in 2024, which is 31.9% more than in 2023," the propagandists reported.

It was the role that the aforementioned exchange plays in preserving Putin's Russia's ability to continue its war against Ukraine that prompted the attack, Atesh explained.

"We deliberately aimed our strike at the heart of Putin's economy. Millions of petrodollars pass through here every day and are sent to the furnace of the Kremlin's war machine. Today that faucet has stopped for a while. We continue to systematically attack the resource and attempts to restore its operation are of a short-term nature," the movement assured.

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