According to the NGO GI-TOC (Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime), Ukraine and Russia together were the “largest criminal ecosystem in Europe” before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian mafia groups controlled the lucrative smuggling routes between Russia and Western Europe, smuggling everything from gold to cigarettes, lumber, coal, drugs and people. The Black Sea metropolis of Odessa was also an important transshipment port for contraband goods. The political and economic influence of the pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian oligarchs was correspondingly great.
Important transfer point
Founded by Russia in 1794, the port city of Odessa was famous for its multi-ethnic makeup and international outlook – and for smuggling. The best-known literary portrait of the city in this regard was written by Isaac Babel in the “Tales of Odessa”.
Important heroin and cocaine route
Along with the Balkans and the Caucasus, Ukraine was the main route for heroin from Afghanistan to Europe. Cocaine from Latin America was often delivered to Black Sea ports. On the other hand, weapons were carried from there to Africa and Asia. In Ukraine itself, the production of amphetamines and illegal tobacco products was booming.
After the 2014 Maidan revolution and the Russian invasion of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, efforts to fight mafia and corruption increased in the country. However, comparatively little progress has been made, particularly in the area of judicial reform. The frozen conflict in Donbass has also created new lines of business for crime syndicates, according to GI-TOC.
“Being a traitor is something else entirely”
However, the Russian attack in February 2022 triggered a “serious shock” to organized crime, according to the GI-TOC in a recent report. Cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian mafia groups has become politically impossible for both sides. “Being a criminal is one thing. But being considered a traitor is something completely different”, the British weekly “Economist” quoted expert Mark Galeotti. The United Nations Institute for Interregional Research on Crime and Justice (UNICRI) came to the same completion at the end of last year.
Black Sea ports were closed, and for the most part still are today. The fronts make smuggling almost impossible. There are also night curfews. And the mafia also has a personnel problem, according to the GI-TOC, as many men have been drafted into the army. Many oligarchs also left the country at the beginning of the war.
Configured alternative routes
However, the Geneva-based NGO warns that crime syndicates have long since begun to develop alternative routes: Estonian authorities, with the help of Europol, intercepted 3.5 tonnes of cocaine from Latin America at one of its ports – in Muuga – last year. Turkish Customs has reported an increase in shipments of heroin and amphetamines from Iran.
And according to the GI-TOC, there are also signs of a revival of organized crime in Ukraine after the shock of the first months of the war. Smuggling activity shifted west to the borders with Poland, Slovakia and Moldova. And last but not least, soldiers at the front are given synthetic drugs.
According to UNICRI, new areas of business include transporting commercial goods under the guise of humanitarian aid and smuggling scarce goods such as fuel from neighboring countries into Ukraine. Looted goods such as grain would also be traded. Trafficking in human beings has also increased – according to the GI-TOC, however, much less than feared. Bringing draft-age men out of the country is also a newly established line of business.
Two big incentives for the mafia
In view of the completely open outcome of the war, predictions are extremely difficult. However, two problems in Ukraine are obvious: the sudden increase in stockpiles of weapons and the many billions that will flow into the reconstruction of the country. Both are likely to attract criminal conglomerates – unless the necessary countermeasures are taken by the state and corruption in the ranks of politicians and officials is severely punished.
Above all, the NGO calls for more radical reforms, especially in the judiciary and the security apparatus. The SBU secret service, which is still part of Soviet structures, is trying to use current successes in counterintelligence to prevent future reforms and a possible split from the start. Pressure from Western allies can be decisive for the success of reforms, because the necessary financial support will come mainly from the West and will be linked to the stages of reform.
Russia: closer ties with the underworld
In Russia, the war has already resulted in a closer relationship between the underworld and the state, according to expert Galeotti, according to The Economist. Criminals sometimes performed secret service activities for the state and helped to circumvent sanctions, in particular by organizing the importation of semiconductors.
For Ukraine, on the other hand, the forced severing of the country from Russia as a result of the Russian attack can, at best, become an opportunity to permanently break similar oligarchic structures. As specific support measures, UNICRI recommended, among other things, the establishment of cross-border mobile units at the EU-Ukraine border and closer cooperation through Europol. Most importantly, the UN Institute calls for support and monitoring of law enforcement reforms.