Tag: Crime
RUSSIALINK: Moscow Times: “U.S. Spams Russians With Texts Offering Rewards for Election Meddling Info”
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Aug. 7, 2020) Russians are receiving spam text messages offering huge rewards in exchange for information about their country’s efforts to interfere in the United States’ presidential election. News of the SMS messages came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the $10 million reward in an attempt to prevent foreign interference in the […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “How Putin pushed aside the oligarchs and made Russia his own” – Washington Post/ Anders Åslund
In her deeply researched new book, Catherine Belton tells a dark tale of … Putin’s rise to power and … 20 years as [Russian] leader …. ‘Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West‘ […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian Criminal Group Finds New Target: Americans Working at Home” – New York Times/ David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth
A hacking group calling itself Evil Corp., indicted in December, has shown up in corporate networks with sophisticated ransomware. American officials worry election infrastructure could be next […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “As Pandemic Grips Russia, an Age-Old Bane Returns: Drinking” – New York Times/ Anton Troianovski
The widespread, false belief that alcohol will protect drinkers from the coronavirus is helping drive a spike in liquor sales and domestic violence. “… Across the world, the coronavirus pandemic has sparked fears of increased alcohol abuse …. In Russia, two weeks into a nationwide partial lockdown, those fears are becoming reality … evidence mounts that a spike in alcohol […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Alexander Galitsky: From Soviet Engineer to Libertarian Investor; The father of the Russian internet tells The Moscow Times he wants to kill all borders and warns that society is falling behind technology.” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – February 21, 2020) “If you ask me, I would say ‘kill borders’ – they don’t need to exist at all,” says Alexander Galitsky, pushing his closed notebook to the side as he warms to his topic. “All these borders and all these rules exist only for politicians. We don’t have borders with […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Russia’s Domestic Violence Problem Is ‘Exaggerated,’ Justice Ministry Says” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nov. 19, 2019) The Russian government doesn’t see domestic violence as a “serious problem” and believes that its scale is exaggerated, the country’s Justice Ministry said in an official response to Europe’s human rights court obtained by the Kommersant business daily. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this summer had asked Russia to respond […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Domestic Violence Affects 1 in 3 Russians, Poll Says” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 13, 2019) Nearly one-third of Russia’s population has come face-to-face with domestic violence in their own families or among acquaintances, according to an independent survey published Friday. Russia decriminalized certain forms of domestic violence in 2017, a decision that top lawmakers have said was a mistake two years later. Activists say the absence of […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Russia Could Re-Criminalize Domestic Violence After European Court Ruling, Senator Says” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 31, 2019) Russia could make domestic violence a crime two years after lawmakers decriminalized some forms of domestic abuse, a top senator has said after a ruling by Europe’s top human rights court put a spotlight on the issue. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this month ruled for the first time that […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “The evictors For the past five years, loan sharks have forced more than 500 Muscovites from their homes. Here’s how the industry works.” – Meduza
“In Moscow and [environs] … ‘black creditors’ – microfinance institutions (MFOs) … deceive [debtors] and seize … homes. Meduza … [found ] almost 500 apartments lost … over the past five years without so much as a court order. … more than simply ‘squeezing’ people from their homes … possibly part of a wider, international money-laundering system. * * * […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Russian Cop Jailed for Ignoring Murdered Domestic Violence Victim’s Pleas” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 12, 2019) A Russian police officer has been convicted of negligence after telling a domestic violence victim to “come back when you’re dead” minutes before she was murdered. Police inspector Natalya Bashkatova received a domestic abuse call in the city of Oryol in late 2016 but refused to investigate the victim’s claims, telling her, […]
» Read moreCrime, Torture and Punishment in a Moscow Suburb; Viktor Lukyan, sentenced to six years for murder, had little chance of a fair trial under a system that presumes defendants are guilty
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Evan Gershkovich – July 9, 2019) [themoscowtimes.com/2019/07/09/crime-torture-and-punishment-in-a-moscow-suburb-a66314] Lukyan in a Domodedovo courtroom cage in February. He spent more a year in pre-trial detention. Evan Gershkovich / MT On a Wednesday morning late last May in Barybino, a drab town in the Moscow suburbs, a passerby spotted a body wrapped in black garbage bags floating in […]
» Read moreMark Galeotti: “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia” – Pushkin House Book Prize Finalist
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Emily Couch – May 4, 2019 – themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/05/mark-galleotti-the-vory-russias-super-mafia-a65488) In “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia,” Mark Galeotti draws on years of research to tell the grimly absorbing tale of Russia’s criminal underworld. Galeotti is a specialist in Russian history, security and crime who is a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations (Prague); a regular […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Russia’s Black Market Totaled 20% of GDP in 2018 – Reports” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 22, 2019) The size of Russia’s shadow economy was equal to 20 percent of the GDP last year, media reported Friday, citing the Rosfinmonitoring state financial watchdog. The watchdog recorded 20.7 trillion rubles ($315.9 billion) in undeclared imports and income taxes, as well as under-the-table salaries and other suspicious transactions, in 2018, the RBC […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “Abortion in Russia: How Has the Situation Changed Since the Soviet Era? [Excerpt]” – PONARS Eurasia/ Victoria Sakevich, Maria Lipman
(PONARS Eurasia/ Victoria Sakevich, Maria Lipman – February 12, 2019) Victoria Sakevich is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Demography at the Higher School of Economics, Russia. She has been studying the demography of reproductive health for many years. [Full text with charts: http://www.ponarseurasia.org/point-counter/article/abortion-russia-how-has-situation-changed-soviet-era] Soviet women commonly resorted to abortion as a way to end unwanted pregnancies. In the […]
» Read moreGangster Geopolitics: The Kremlin’s Use of Criminals as Assets Abroad
(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Mark Galeotti – January 17, 2018 – russiamatters.org/analysis/gangster-geopolitics-kremlins-use-criminals-assets-abroad) Mark Galeotti is a senior associate fellow of RUSI and a senior non-resident fellow at the Institute of International Relations Prague, as well as a 2018-19 Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute. His most recent book is “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia” (Yale, 2018) [Amazon: […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “‘We are new Russians’: How a hard-drinking nation curbed its alcohol use; Russia now ranks 14th in terms of alcohol consumption globally, and is comparable to France and Germany” – CBC News (Canada)/ Chris Brown
“Once the holder of the dubious title of one of the world’s hardest-drinking nations, Russia has fallen steadily down the list … Eduard Grigoriev … [a] volunteer with the group Sober Russia … [is a] 21-year-old … self-proclaimed liquor vigilante. … helping police crack down on businesses that break Russia’s ever-stricter liquor laws. … Illegal alcohol sales usually take the […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “The ‘Global Cybercrime Problem’ Is Actually the ‘Russia Problem’; Convincing Putin that further attacks will trigger automatic, severe responses is the best path to deterrence.” – The Atlantic/ John P. Carlin
“John P. Carlin is the author of Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat. He served as the assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice and currently chairs the Aspen Institute’s Cyber & Technology Program.”
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “U.S. State Department Upgrades Russia in Travel Advisory System” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 11, 2018) The U.S. State Department has moved Russia out of a list of countries to which “travel should be reconsidered” in an updated travel advisory published on Monday. In January 2018, the State Department listed Russia as one of the most dangerous countries for travelers in a new four-tier advisory system, along with […]
» Read moreRUSSIALINK: “Decriminalization of Domestic Violence Was a ‘Mistake,’ Russian Official Admits” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 3, 2018) Russia’s top human rights official has called the country’s 2017 decision to adopt a law that decriminalizes domestic abuse “a mistake.” In 2017, Vladimir Putin signed a law that scrapped prison sentences for first-time abusers whose beatings result in “minor harm,” such as small abrasions, bruises and superficial wounds. Since the law […]
» Read moreIn Russia, Clash of Generations Replacing Clash of Civilizations, ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ Says
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 11, 2018) Recent statements by FSB Director Aleksandr Borotnikov suggest that in Russia, the clash of generations, historically known in Russia as the battle between “fathers and sons,” is replacing the clash of civilizations, according to the editors of Nezavisimaya gazeta. The recent wave of violent acts by young Russians has […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Crimea’s Columbine’: Massacre Draws Comparisons to U.S. Shootings; Death toll from college attack rises to 20, as authorities try to determine the attacker’s motive” – Wall Street Journal/ Ann M. Simmons
“… Authorities said 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov detonated explosives and opened fire Wednesday at [Crimea’s] Kerch Polytechnic College before taking his own life. Initially thought to be a terrorist attack, the massacre was later classified by officials as mass murder. … Kerch is a city in the east of Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula … annexed by Russia from Ukraine […]
» Read moreJRL NEWSWATCH: “Once again, Putin gives us a lesson on the usefulness of the blatant lie” – Washington Post/Anne Applebaum
“They were, they declared, just tourists. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – identified … as … Russian intelligence agents who poisoned four people in … Salisbury – were simply on vacation …. This type of tactic has a history. … [During] the invasion of Crimea … Putin insisted … Russian troops marching across the peninsula were locals who … picked […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Implausible Deniability: Novichok Victim Dies: Did the Kremlin Really Lose Control of its Deadliest Poisons? The real question is where does the Russian criminal state end and the criminal underworld begin, and how do they work together in what amounts to a new murder incorporated?” – Daily Beast/Amy Knight
“… Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley visited … Salisbury and somehow ingested the exotic nerve agent used in the poisoning of Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter …. Sturgess died. … a 44-year-old mother of three. … the police now have a murder case on their hands. The masterminds of the Skripal attack, at least, are thought to be […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “A Stage for Human Trafficking: The World Cup in Russia” – Kennan Institute/Laura A. Dean
NEWSLINK: “Exclusive: U.S. counterspy warns World Cup travelers’ devices could be hacked” – Reuters
“The top U.S. counterintelligence official is advising Americans traveling to Russia for football’s World Cup beginning this week that they should not take electronic devices because they are likely to be hacked by criminals or the Russian government. … William Evanina, an FBI agent and the director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, warned World Cup travelers ….” […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Are Russia’s soccer fans dangerous? In the West, many people are wondering if mass brawls among fans will mark the World Cup in Russia” – Deutsche Welle
“Russian fans have a negative image in Europe, with many remembering the riots in Marseille during the 2016 European Cup.”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “How Putin’s Russia Became Mafia Heaven; Inside the long, strange story of organized crime taking over the former Soviet Union-and how Russia tamed it only to unleash it on the West. [re: Mark Galeotti]” – ViceCom/Seth Ferranti
“… Putin is engaged in this kind of political war with the West—he’s effectively trying to weaponize Russian organized crime against the west. We have seen Russian-based organized crime groups being used to kill enemies of his, to gather intelligence, to move spies across boarders, and raise money for Putin by supporting particular groups or media outlets that he likes […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “MI5 chief: Kremlin is ‘chief protagonist’ in campaign to undermine west” – The Guardian (UK)
“Andrew Parker accuses Russian state of interfering in elections, cyber-attacks, disinformation and criminal thuggery ….”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “England fans at World Cup ‘at risk of blackmail from Russian mafia hookers’; There are fears gangsters could threaten to send incriminating pictures to fans’ wives or post them on social media” – The Daily Mirror (UK)/Tom Davidson
“… ‘It’s not just the Russian government we have to be fearful of when it comes to England fans. It is also the Russian mafia who we know exploit sex, and use the internet and dating, to offer women in order to blackmail customers.’ …”
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Countering a Kleptocratic Kremlin; We must remember that predatory authoritarianism is not stamped into the Russian DNA” – The American Interest/Larry Diamond
“With every passing week we have new evidence of the threat that Vladimir Putin’s kleptocracy poses to our democracy, our national security, and the entire liberal world order. Putin’s regime – something akin to an organized crime ring masquerading as a state – has looted the wealth of Russia, subjugated its people, attacked neighboring former republics of the USSR, annexed […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Autumn of the Oligarchs; Vladimir Putin’s Billionaire Buddies Are Getting Scared, and Not Just of Sanctions” – The Daily Beast/Amy Knight
“Some of the oligarchs now face major U.S. sanctions, while others are getting arrested on the Kremlin’s orders. Is Putin’s circle of the shameless rich beginning to crumble?”
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Zapret a manger: Russia’s elites face growing sanctions pressure” – Bear Market Brief/Max Hess
“[With the Treasury Department’s April 6, 2018, sanctions announcement,] [s]even Russians explicitly labeled oligarchs … their main Russian businesses, and 17 government officials were added to the list of Specifically Designated Nationals (SDN) … [who] have their U.S. assets frozen, while U.S. persons are barred from doing business with them. … a tactical escalation of the U.S. sanctions …. expanded […]
» Read moreInterfax: Russian Constitutional Court restricts use of house arrest
ST. PETERSBURG. March 24 (Interfax) – House arrest cannot be used in charges that do not envisage imprisonment and deviation from this rule is only possible in a situation when the person has already breached a preventive measure before, the Russian Constitutional Court has ruled. The decision was posted on the court website on Friday. The claim was filed with […]
» Read more“Gangster’s paradise: how organised crime took over Russia; Under Vladimir Putin, gangsterism on the streets has given way to kleptocracy in the state” – The Guardian (UK)/Mark Galeotti
“… The challenge posed by Russian organised crime is a formidable one – and not just at home. Across the world, it trafficks drugs and people, arms insurgents and gangsters, and peddles every type of criminal service, from money laundering to computer hacking. For all that, much of the rest of the world remains willing – indeed, often delighted – […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Lutsenko says Savchenko planned mass murder in the Verkhovna Rada” – Kyiv Post/Veronika Melkozerova
“… Lutsenko made his sensational claim the same day Savchenko returned to Ukraine from Strasbourg to give testimony to the Security Service of Ukraine as a witness in a case against Volodymyr Ruban, a Donbas war mediator accused of attempting to assassinate Ukrainian leaders and smuggling weapons. …”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “If we don’t boycott the World Cup, England fans will almost certainly die in Russia; Here are 13 very good reasons to stay at home” – The Daily Mirror (UK)/Fleet Street Fox
“… The Russian state is suspected of involvement in the murder of 14 people in Britain. … more than the Yorkshire Ripper …. Russian football hooligans are the most organised and ruthless in the world. They injured 130 in Marseille after Euro 2016, including 2 left in comas with life-changing injuries and others who had their Achilles tendons sliced in […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Harassment Russian Style” – Moscow Times/Michele A. Berdy
“Харассмент: harassment … How is it that I’ve never written about домогательство? This word and issue – what is usually called harassment in English – have come up plenty of times in the past. But this week the subject came up, stayed up and is screaming for attention. …”
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Russian lawmaker accused of sex harassment apologizes” – AP
“An influential Russian parliament member accused of sexual harassment by several female journalists has issued an apology and asked for forgiveness. … allegations against [foreign affairs committee head] Leonid Slutsky by three journalists include groping and making demeaning comments. … demonstrators including … Sobchak held pickets outside the parliament demanding [his] resignation ….” Click here for: “Russian lawmaker accused of […]
» Read moreRussians Increasingly Blasé about Major Corruption Cases But Infuriated by Local Ones
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, March 4, 2018) The anti-corruption cases Moscow has launched in recent months no longer shock most Russians who view them as a kind of theater or surrogate for a genuine struggle against corruption because it is hard for them to view money in the capital as if it were their own, Aleksey […]
» Read moreU.S. Urges Travelers To Reconsider Visiting Russia
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 11, 2018) The U.S. State Department listed Russia as one of the most dangerous countries to visit in a new travel advisory system released Wednesday, together with states including Sudan, Pakistan and Niger. The new four-tier advisory replaces the State Department’s travel warnings and alerts system and is based on seven risk factors including […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Russian answer to opioid epidemic: ‘Cold turkey’; Russia has an opioid abuse problem as big as America’s, but a very different way of dealing with it. No methadone replacement therapy in Moscow – just a couple of aspirin and a short, sharp withdrawal shock.” – Christian Science Monitor/ Fred Weir
“Russia has an opioid addiction crisis about as grave as America’s. … the two countries’ approaches to the problem could hardly be more different. … most US and European clinics offer patients methadone as replacement therapy [yet] Russian doctors disdain such ‘soft’ treatment. … their [cold turkey] methods … have a lower success rate than the 50 percent achieved in the United States. … […]
» Read moreNine Months After New Domestic Violence Law, Russian Women Still Struggle; The decriminalization of battery has made it harder for women to come forward, advocates say
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anastasia Manuilova – November 24, 2017) For Svetlana, a 35-year-old mother of three from Moscow, domestic violence is a family affair. Her ex-husband repeatedly threatened to take their son away and beat her mother. Last spring, it was Svetlana’s turn. “He cornered me in our flat in Moscow for several hours and beat me,” she […]
» Read morePutin Calls Ekho Moskvy Journalist’s Attacker a ‘Sick Person’
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 30, 2017) The man who stabbed a radio editor in Moscow last week was a “sick person” without political motives, President Vladimir Putin said Monday. Tatyana Felgenhauer, a deputy editor at the liberal-learning Ekho Moskvy radio station, was stabbed last week by a Russian-Israeli man believed to have mental health issues. Two state television […]
» Read moreNo home, no work, no family: the difficulties of rehabilitation for Russia’s ex-prisoners; Confiscation of property, slave labour, deceit, despair. What else do Russian ex-cons face when they leave prison?
(opendemocracy.net – Tatyana Dvornikova – July 20, 2017) Tatyana Dvornikova is a Moscow-based journalist. She works with Colta, Kommersant and Radio Mel. Russia has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world. According to the Federal Penitential Service, more than half of Russia’s prison population at any moment consists of people who have done time before. Committing a second […]
» Read moreRussian investigators say Nemtsov not killed over religion
(Interfax – July 13, 2017) The Russian Investigations Committee has ruled out the theory that opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was murdered on religious, rather than financial grounds, its spokeswoman has said. “During the investigation there was an analysis of the testimonies of suspects Zaur Dadayev and Anzor Gubashev on how they committed the murder of Boris Nemtsov on grounds of […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Will the cliche of the ‘Russian baddie’ ever leave our screens? With James Norton starring in McMafia, an upcoming BBC drama about a mob family, the country’s criminal image shows no sign of disappearing” – The Guardian (UK)/ Stuart Jeffries
“… Will McMafia buck or conform to the stereotypes? On the lawn of Munden House, James Norton tells the Guide that he hopes his performance will remind us that Russians are different to what is considered the norm on cinema and TV. He says that one reason he wanted to play Alex, the Anglo-Russian who’s both revolted and seduced by […]
» Read moreArticle by Vladimir Putin published in the German business newspaper Handelsblatt (re G20)
(Kremlin.ru – July 6, 2017) Ahead of my trip to Germany to take part in the Summit of the Group of Twenty, I would like to share some thoughts about cooperation within the G20 framework with the readers of Handelsblatt, one of the most popular and reputable German newspapers. Over the years of its existence, the Group of Twenty has […]
» Read moreJury Deliberating For Second Day In Case Of Accused Nemtsov Killers
(Article ©2017 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – June 28, 2017 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-chechnya-nemtsov-murder-trial/28583189.html) The jury in the trial of five men who are charged in connection with the 2015 killing of opposition politician and former Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov is continuing deliberations for a second day in Moscow. The jury on June […]
» Read moreTRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Meeting with Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov
(Kremlin.ru – May 26, 2017) Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov presented his annual report to the President. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Titov. Have you brought your annual report? Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov: Yes, Mr President. Time flies. We are completing the first five-year period in our work. Five years ago, you made a […]
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