Political Science

The Russian mafia refers to a group of organized criminal organizations that originated from the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the last decade of the 20th century, the Russian mafia has spread all over the world gaining control and influence in the black market. The group consists of international criminals from Russia who are involved in multibillion illegal trade such as oil trade, smuggling of dangerous weapons and money laundering (Glenny, 2008). 

The rise in organized criminal syndicates which led to the creation of the Russian mafia took place after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990s which resulted into economic hardships and massive emigration. As more people who had lost their government jobs became more desperate for money, they embraced criminal life. Due to emigration, the criminal element spread to overseas which has made the Russian be active in all parts of the world. The increased level of corruption in the government and poverty led to the high rate of growth of the Russian mafia. The opening of Russia to the outside world enabled the mafias to link with other international criminal syndicates (Glenny, 2008).

However, crime in the Russian society has existed for many centuries. However, the criminal gangs were not involved in international and well organized crime as the Russian mafias who emerged in the 1990s. They were mainly involved in theft and banditry. They were commonly known as the Vory v zakone and at one time controlled the black market in the Soviet Union where they supplied electronics and cooperated with corrupt government officials. These criminal groups were however not connected to other international criminal groups outside Russia as the Russian mafias.