Crime and corruption: Enduring problems of post-Soviet development

Post-Soviet Organized Crime

Post-Soviet organized criminals are now major actors in international organized crime. They have acquired the distinction because of the diversity of their activities, the global reach of their operations, their links with other organized crime groups, and the sheer volume of their activity. Their involvement in weapons trade internationally and in massive money laundering has made them threats to national security on a regional and international level.

The audacity of their crimes also makes their criminality receive great visibility. The recent indictment of Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, an Uzbek member of post-Soviet organized crime, for fixing the Olympics is indicative of this high profile crime. Tokhtakhounov, even though he never set foot in the United States, was indicted in federal court in Salt Lake City for influencing Olympic skating judges to favor the French team. Residing in Italy because of his expulsion from France, he sought to acquire a coveted French residence permit to live in his expensive Paris apartment by currying favor with the French. His involvement with the Olympic fix was disclosed by wiretaps placed on his phones in Italy at the behest of the FBI.

The case highlights several of the most important features of post-Soviet organized crime. First, the crime is so transnational that criminals can be indicted for crimes committed outside of the former Soviet states. Second, the offenses are committed in two continents simultaneously. Third, undercover policing techniques requiring cooperation between American and Italian law enforcement are needed to address this crime.

Post-Soviet organized crime groups engage in a full range of illicit activity that includes human trafficking, drugs, and weapons. In the Far East, they also trade in Russia's valuable natural resources such as fish and timber. Their crime partners are the organized criminals of Japan, the Koreas, China, and Vietnam.

Central Asian organized crime groups are major players in the international drug trade because of their proximity to the massive drug production of Afghanistan. They are also key actors in human trafficking between the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan and western Europe. Many of these individuals are trafficked through Russia and Ukraine en route to their final destinations.

Organized crime groups with greater proximity to Europe are involved in all types of illicit activity and money laundering in that region. Recent arrests in Italy reveal illicit funds in the hundreds of millions of dollars and networks that stretch across western Europe.

The organized crime links are evident throughout the world. In Florida, a Russian organized criminal linked drug traffickers from Latin America with corrupt military from Russia to procure helicopters and submarines for the Cali cartel. A submarine under construction in Colombia for drug traffickers was being built with the assistance of Russian-speaking engineers. These are only a couple examples of the extensive links now evident between Ukrainian and Russian criminals and the Colombian drug cartels.