Hmmmm.
I am not usually suspicious of things, but the fact that 7 players come from a small local in Russian is exceedingly suspicious.
Complicating matters is the fact that the 7 players took so long to reply to Ruatha's e-mail. Most of the other players answered within a day or two.
Worse, all 7 players seem to share the same local IP provider.
Worse still, all 7 players are in either Novosibirsk or Tomsk. Even more damaging is that they are sister cities.
And from what I can see, none of the seven players have stepped up to explain what has happened.
It can be argued that some of the evidence is circumstantial. But circumstantial or not, it is damaging.
Ruatha, up till now, this game was fun. A lot of fun.
And I loved being a participant in the in-game story. That was new, unique and challenging.
But now it isn't. Even if Ruatha should decide to continue as the host, I am not sure I would want to continue playing.
IMO, Ruatha has done an excellant job as the host of this game.
And yes, I am disappointed the game likely to be over.
But much better to abort the game than to encourage this type of behaviour.
Even a face off between the East and the West would be a partial encouragement.
Similarly, IMO separate games would also be a partial encouragement.