Organized Crime has Risen in Russia Dramatically Since Start of Putin’s War in Ukraine and will Increase Still More with Return of Veterans, Statistics and Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 15 – The number of crimes committed by organized criminal groups in Russia during the first five months of 2024 was 76 percent higher (to a total of 16,900 cases) than during the same period a year earlier, the interior ministry reports, with experts saying this is the result of Putin’s war in Ukraine and will increase still further as veterans return home.

            These figures and the predictions of Russian experts continue a trend which began when the war started, according to the We Can Explain telegram channel which also notes that ever more of these crimes are being committed by people with guns, another trend linked with the war and making combatting such crimes harder (t.me/mozhemobyasnit/18408).

            According to one retired interior ministry expert, the illegal trafficking in guns has risen astronomically, with guns of various kinds now being freely traded in some regions of the country, typically among veterans of the war in Ukraine who have become accustomed to using guns to settle all things.

            If Moscow doesn’t address this problem and work on the rehabilitation of veterans, Vladimir Zherebenkov, a Moscow lawyer says, then there will be a continuing rise in the number of organized criminal groups and armed criminals just as there were after all earlier Russian military actions.