Anti-organized crime institutions in Russia are being developed. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, organized crime has taken control of many major sectors of Russia's state economy, society, and government. Most initiatives and institutions developed against organized crime groups have failed. Others, that have managed to remain standing, struggle in having any influence over the groups or cannot stop them, thus sitting idly without the ability to influence any crime. Owing to the Russian government's continuous failure to curb organized crime, other nations such as the United States have tried to intervene and assist it in finding strategies.
Organized crime does not have a set definition that is recognized worldwide because every nation defines organized crime by different terms depending on their perceptions of variables such as culture and policy. In Russia, organized crime is defined by law enforcement authorities as, "... an organized community of criminals ranging in size from 50 to 1,000 persons, which is engaged in systematic criminal business and protects itself from the law with the help of corruption." The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States defines organized crime as "... a self-perpetuating, structured and disciplined association of individuals or groups, combined for the purpose of obtaining monetary or commercial gains or profits, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of graft and corruption." Federico Varese, a Professor in Criminology at the University of Oxford, offers yet another view of organized crime, particularly pertaining to mafia groups, "a mafia group is a particular type of organized crime that specializes in one particular commodity [...] protection".
Background The Communist Soviet Union collapsed after Mikhail Gorbachev tried to open the country via his policies of perestroika (1986) and glasnost (1988). While his actions brought the Soviet Union out of isolation from the international community, the initiatives are also seen as a failure because he tried to implement them too quickly. The shift from a state-run economy to a market economy was not gradual, it was abrupt. The nation was not ready for such a quick, drastic change. The new Russian Federation was forced into a market economy after decades of suppression and an entirely state-run economy. The new Russian state government did not have experience with democracy and could not smoothly transition to a democracy and market economy at the same time. Laws for this new type of state were not in place and when the government tried to enact some, they proved to be very hard to enforce as the population also did not yet understand how democracy and a market economy functioned. The chaos and fear that now plagued the Russian state opened the doors to a large increase in crime.
Vladimir Volkov, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the European University at St. Petersburg, cites some useful statistical data showing the immense upward trend of crime in the new Russian state, "... in 1986 the militia registered 1,122 cases of extortion in Russia, in 1989 the number jumped to 4,621". By 1996 there were a registered total of 17,169 cases of extortion. This number included only cases that were reported and responded to by militia; it is unknown how many cases were unreported. On the other hand, 1996 also saw crime plateau. The following years and in present day, there are not as many groups (although the groups that do exist are extremely powerful). Phil Williams showed the drastic increase in crime groups after the Soviet Union's collapse, "... Russia has increased from 3,000 [criminal organizations] in the early 1990s to over 8,000 at the end of 1995...."
With unsuccessful attempts at stifling organized crime, organized crime groups took control of a significant number of large, vital, and previously state-owned corporations and businesses. Organized crime groups interrogated and exploited private business owners. If a business owner refused to agree to pay a crime group to protect his business, the crime group would simply kick him out of his own business or, as in the majority of cases, murder him and then take over the business themselves.
By the mid-1990s the Russian government realized that some type of effective action was needed if it wanted to avoid losing the entire Russian economy and society to organized crime groups. Hence, initiatives and decrees began to be developed and implemented, although with little success.
Government In the beginning of their struggle with organized crime, Russia did not try to seek foreign assistance. In recent times, however, it has actively sought foreign help to fight organized crime groups in the country. Even with aid, organized crime remains a serious problem. In fact, aid has offered very little actual help as programs are hard to follow through with and are usually simply dropped.
Boris Yeltsin's government, the first government of the new democratic Russian state, was unable to curb crime in the administration. Instead it later turned out that almost all major government agencies and personalities had been linked to organized crime and/or corruption in some way.
The Russian government does not have the resources or dedicated individuals to combat crime. The State Duma has long been discussing legislative proposals but response has been weak. Due to the inability of the state to extinguish the criminal organizations, the population no longer trusts the government to get the protection they need. In fact, citizens can only depend on the organized crime groups to get any effective protection anymore of their homes, families, and businesses. Even official law enforcement agents have begun to partner up with the organized crime groups, because doing so has become one of the best ways to make money and stay safe.
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the government agency in charge of combating organized crime. The agency has been around long before the collapse of the Soviet Union. A few of its branches include the militsiya, the tax police, and the Organized Crime Control Department. The MVD always participates in any crime related investigations or actions in the Duma. Few members of the MVD have been known to be collaborators with organized crime.
Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service (FSB) is the post-communist version of the Committee on State Security (KGB). They, like the MVD, and the KGB did, work against organized crime in Russia. Often the MVD and the FSB work hand-in-hand to try to stop crime. On the other hand, many FSB officials have been known to be corrupted and collaborating with organized crime groups.
Anti-crime decrees
In the first Yeltsin Administration By the mid-1990s Yeltsin's administration began to create some programs to try to alleviate their state of their organized crime problem. In 1995 then President Yeltsin met with the Security Council of Russia to hear reports administered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) on the status of organized crime in the state. Results were obviously negative, showing a lot of crime with little enforcement against it. In a meager attempt to address the issue, Yeltsin ordered more funding and coordination among judicial bodies against organized crime. Nothing ever happened with this initiative.
Later in 1995 Yeltsin made a very controversial attempt against crime. He created his own anti-crime law which allowed "... the police broad authority to search premises, seize documents, investigate finances, and hold, for up to 30 days, people suspected of organized crime activity."
In July, the State Duma allowed the expansion of the number of government agencies who could make investigations. Also in July, the Duma passed a law called "On Fighting Organized Crime" containing descriptions of what organized crime is and which organized crime groups are involved, along with 60 extra articles. The law was signed in by Yeltsin in 1996. Within its 60 articles it outlined how many years of prison organized crime groupmembers, government officials, and participants in organized crime should receive upon conviction. By the next year the new law seemed to disappear from memory and again nothing strict was being done about organized crime.
Regional Anti-Organized Crime Directorate The Regional Anti-Organized Crime Directorate (RUBOP, RUOP, or UBOP) was created in 1992 to track and suppress organized crime groups. Several such regional anti-organized crime directorates were set up all over the country. These directorates served as "an elite police force with extraordinary powers". RUBOP also maintained a database of all listed organized crime groups and the individuals who participated in them. In 1996, however, the database was sold to private hands and was no longer updated.
Initiatives by Alexander Lebed
General Aleksandr Lebed was the Security Council secretary in the Yeltsin administration. Lebed was a die-hard advocate of anti-organized crime institutions. Although he was quickly dismissed after Yeltsin became aware of a circulating rumor in 1996 of a potential military coup, Lebed enforced quite a few initiatives.
Lebed implemented new powers for his secretary position of the Security Council: The secretary of the Security Council was granted permission to bring notice to the president of any high-ranking official suspected of corruption. The secretary was given the authority to investigate all high-ranking officials to be elected and present the information to the president. The secretary of the Security Council was given the permission to review draft presidential decrees with other members of the Security Council. Furthermore, Lebed forced Yeltsin to sign into law a decree, that amongst other things, allowed for sting operations against Moscow-area crime lords. The decree also included the following anti-organized crime actions:
The "rapid deployment unit" division was given an additional 19,000 men to patrol streets. The special tax police, a branch of the MVD, was given an extra 1,000 men. Moscow's criminal court system acquired 650 new judges. Corrupt officials would be temporarily removed from their office until proven not guilty. The establishment of a program to protect witnesses, judges, and prosecutors from harm during the entirety of their trial.
The Putin Administration Vladimir Putin has been a key government player since at least the year 2000. He is also an ex-FSB prime minister. When he was elected president in 2000 the first thing Putin did was grant himself and his family immunity from being prosecuted or investigated under the Presidential Decree Number 1763. On the other hand, Putin created a new security agency to fight organized crime called the Federal Service for the Investigation of Fight against Corruption (FSRBK). At the same time, in 2000, Putin threatened all Internet traffic when he authorized SORM-2, an eavesdropping network, to monitor all Internet traffic in real time.
Helping suppress Russia's crime: the United States
The United States has been trying to help Russia find ways to battle organized crime groups since the early 1990s. However, its initiatives have tended to fall through because no one follows up after agreements or plans are made. Also, the Russian Federation often assured the United States that the crime was being taken care of successfully. The United States did not investigate the validity of that claim but just believed organized crime issues were truly being resolved. Since the 1990s, the United States government had steadily began to realize that Russia has been misguiding it. Hence, in recent times the United States has taken stronger action to assist Russia against organized crime.
Center for Strategic and International Relations