Russian organized crime has a mythology attached to it - the brutal tattooed men of the Vory v Zakone. But those days are long in the past, rapid globalisation saw a new type of organized criminal take the reins in the Russian underworld, spreading their influence as criminal facilitators across the world.

But the war in Ukraine has changed that. It's changed the relationship between organized crime and the Russian state, the status quo within the established criminal order, the potential vacuum left by those criminals who fight and die in the conflict, the establishment of Russian criminal groups outside of the country, the flows of illicit goods themselves have evolved, and then Ukraine, once so critical to those illicit flows, is currently lost.

Such is the uncertainty surrounding organized crime that there have been rumblings about a possible return to a dark period in Russian history, known as the 'Wild 90s' - a period of anarchy that is etched into the Russian psyche.

Speaker(s):

Mark Galeotti, the Executive Director of Mayak Intelligence, honorary professor at University College London, member of the GI Network. Author of ‘The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia' and the GI-TOC paper: Time of Troubles: The Russian underworld since the Ukraine invasion

Links:

(GI Paper) Rebellion as racket: Crime and the Donbas conflict 2014-2022

(GI Paper) Evolving drug trends in wartime Ukraine

(GI Analysis) The devil’s not-so-new psychoactive substance: Alpha-PVP, a highly addictive synthetic drug, is experiencing growing demand in Ukraine.

(GI Paper) Crossroads: Kazakhstan's changing illicit drug economy

(GI Paper) Port in a storm: Organized crime in Odesa since the Russian invasion

(Podcast) “Death Can Wait”: Drugs on the Frontline in Ukraine

Research Links:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/23/russian-artist-fined-for-extremist-toy-doll-with-prison-tattoos-a82852

https://tass.ru/obschestvo/9218777

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/17/russia-outlaws-childrens-criminal-underground-movement-a71178

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/sep/18/decoding-russian-criminal-tattoos-in-pictures

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68140873

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-recruited-convicts-fierce-assault-units-storm-gladiator-/32806371.html

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-turns-off-prison-heating-to-make-inmates-fight-in-ukraine-njgg08wc9

https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2015/08/26_a_7719581.shtml

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/18/murders-drugs-and-brawls-russias-pardoned-ex-convicts-return-home-after-fighting-in-ukraine-a82175

https://vk.com/wall-62402836_32981

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/11/14/in-russia-pardoned-murderers-are-returning-from-the-front-and-reoffending_6254288_4.html

https://www.ft.com/content/9fdb5668-7e55-4b09-a6ca-6ba77999530b

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/18/murders-drugs-and-brawls-russias-pardoned-ex-convicts-return-home-after-fighting-in-ukraine-a82175

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11509

https://www.depo.ua/rus/politics/mae-shist-sudimostey-i-krishu-na-rosii-shcho-vidomo-pro-odnogo-z-nayplivovishikh-zlodiiv-v-zakoni-loru-sumskogo-yakogo-mozhut-viklyuchiti-z-sanktsiynogo-spisku-rnbo-202110171379964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFIKYeOgCA

https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/knb/press/news/details/545229?lang=ru

https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/knb/press/news/details/527735?lang=ru

https://meduza.io/feature/2023/01/26/mnogie-rossiyane-bezhali-ot-mobilizatsii-v-kazahstan-no-teper-v-strane-zapreschayut-vizaran-blagodarya-kotoromu-oni-mogli-zhit-bez-vnzh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DarVDSo5vY

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-troops-locked-out-of-stolen-john-deere-farm-equipment-2022-5?r=US&IR=T

https://www.grainews.ca/machinery/machinery-brands-comply-with-global-sanctions-against-russia/

https://www.politico.eu/article/farm-machinery-gps-theft-uk-rural-crime-ukraine-russia-war-sanctions/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/13/british-farms-crime-wave/

https://www.nfumutual.co.uk/media-centre/harvest-security-alert-as-cost-of-gps-thefts-doubles-in-2023/

https://www.businessinsider.com/catalytic-converter-thefts-rhodium-palladium-platinum-russian-involvement-2023-2?r=US&IR=T

https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/world/news/russia-is-resorting-to-putting-computer-chips-from-dishwashers-and-refrigerators-in-tanks-due-to-us-sanctions-official-says/articleshow/91519650.cms

https://web.archive.org/web/20221107114101/https:/www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-suspected-of-buying-eu-fridges-to-strip-for-weapon-parts-p73sdtngc

https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/special-resources/silicon-lifeline-western-electronics-heart-russias-war-machine

https://www.aftonbladet.se/ledare/a/GMMK76/darfor-behover-putin-svenska-fartkameror

https://www.uasvision.com/2022/10/24/swedens-stolen-speed-cameras-inside-russian-drones/

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202302199696

https://www.twz.com/bizarre-theft-wave-targets-same-rotax-engines-used-in-iranian-drones

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/bizarre-theft-wave-targets-same-rotax-engines-used-in-iranian-drones

https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1584476545912971264?s=20

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/27/colonel-alexander-denisov-russia-ukraine-tank-engines/

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/16386

https://svpressa.ru/society/article/398101/

https://93.ru/text/incidents/2023/12/26/73060844/

https://cepa.org/article/fsb-gamekeepers-turn-poachers-in-putins-crime-riddled-state/

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/01/08/russian-fsb-officers-arrested-for-55mln-bribes-tass-a83655

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/05/12/banditry-threatens-the-new-russia/e46ef158-bd84-4ca9-870f-612817fe5854/

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/23/how-organised-crime-took-over-russia-vory-super-mafia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/05/12/banditry-threatens-the-new-russia/e46ef158-bd84-4ca9-870f-612817fe5854/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/abramovich-tells-of-role-in-aluminium-wars-6256950.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/apr/13/mining.russia1

https://www.svoboda.org/a/27226932.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/blood-sports-rise-of-russia-gangster-athletes/27722386.html