The rest is peripheral and minor. Two early notes from 2021 regarding VLS complaints were written by Tim Sullivan; both were calm, and the second one even had a peaceful resolution: the claim was settled, and the case was closed. The news about the launch of the investigation was reported by Boris Kamchev, who also authored an old 2016 brief about a fire at a Mannol oil warehouse in Bishkek (we will return to this later). A couple more overviews on the VLS topic appeared without an author's name at all, under the generic byline «Contributor».

In short, upon closer inspection, the phrase «the publication is systematically trashing Mannol» deflates to another reality: the topic in the publication is driven by a single journalist. This in itself is not an accusation. However, it is no longer the stance of an editorial board, but the narrative line of one correspondent.