Russia Misled on Fuel For U.S. Use, Report Says - NYTimes.com: "For a number of years ending in April, two Pentagon middleman companies misled the Russian authorities into thinking that the large quantities of jet fuel they were purchasing were for civilian use, not military, apparently with the intention of evading a tariff, a Congressional report scheduled for release on Tuesday concludes.

But the fuel was being bought by the Pentagon for shipment to the American airbase in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, and from there on to Afghanistan, the report said. Once Russian officials discovered the true identity of the recipient, they cut off supplies, creating a major logistical headache for United States military commanders.

Officials for the contractors expressed little remorse for their actions, the report shows.

“We got one over on ’em,” the report quotes one company official, Charles Squires, as telling investigators. “I’m an old cold warrior, I’m proud of it, we beat the Russians, and we did it for four or five years.”

Until, that is, the Russians objected and the system unraveled."

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