This morning I gave an interview via skype with the Danish TV channel DR2 on the case of Semyon Mogilevich. One point which quickly became clear is that modern organised crime has in some ways evolved beyond the language; Mogilevich is clearly a powerful figure within the transnational Russian underworld. However, he is not a ‘boss’ or a ‘godfather’ – he has a small organisation of his own, but essentially he is a specialised service provider, a mafiya banker. He is not a ‘leader’, as he does not control large numbers of slope-foreheaded leg-breakers or sharp-eyed gunmen, does not traffic in drugs or people. Nor is he even ‘in’ any specific crime network, although he is probably closest to Solntsevo. But for all that, he is undoubtedly powerful and influential, just in more indirect ways. So what do we call him and those like him, whose role as providers of specialised services have made them underworld powers in their own rights?
A side-thought: we need new terms for new types of organised crime figures
Posted by Mark Galeotti on November 29, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/a-side-thought-we-need-new-terms-for-new-types-of-organised-crime-figures/
KGB or Koschei: will the SVR be swallowed by the FSB?
RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore’s latest Power Vertical blog post rounds up the latest chatter, that news that the brace of Russian deep-cover spies in the USA were blown by Colonel Shcherbakov, the man running such operations in North America for the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) may be used by the Federal Security Service (FSB) as a pretext to swallow up its smaller rival.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on November 12, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/kgb-or-koschei-will-the-svr-be-swallowed-by-the-fsb/
Conspiracy theories and Semyon Mogilevich
One of the occupational habits of following Russian politics is contracting conspiracy theorism. The problem is that Russia is truly machiavellian and intrigue-ridden often enough that you can’t rule out all the the theories all the time, even if in the main you really are getting what you see. The latest potential conspiracy gnawing at me relates to the arrest (and probable release) of FBI-Most-Wanted gangster Semyon ‘Seva’ Mogilevich, currently going as Sergei Schnaider.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 26, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/conspiracy-theories-and-semyon-mogilevich/
Chechen parliament attack: a big deal?
This morning (19 October), three insurgents launched a suicide attack on the Chechen parliament building in Grozny, killing two security guards and a parliamentary officer. Following another, larger attack on Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov’s home village, Tsentoroi, on 29 August, this inevitably triggered the usual questions about what this upsurge in violence means.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 19, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/chechen-parliament-attack-a-big-deal/
A cosmetic ruling: fortuitous failure to file key documents may mean wanted mobster Mogilevich walks
On 8 October, the Moscow Arbitrazh court ruled illegal unpaid tax claims and fines against Arbat & Co, the owner of Arbat Prestige (Arbat Prestizh), the now-bankrupt cosmetics chain, were illegal. The total amount, 155.1 million rubles ($5.2 million), is relatively minor and the case would hardly be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that one of the two individuals arrested in connected with this case is Sergei Schnaider, better known as Semyon Mogilevich, ‘Seva’, one of the FBI’s ten most wanted men in the world.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 10, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/a-cosmetic-ruling-fortuitous-failure-to-file-key-documents-may-mean-wanted-mobster-mogilevich-walks/
The Investigations Committee – not so much Russia’s FBI, more a Kremlin watchdog
On 23 September, President Medvedev announced that the existing Investigations Committee of the Prosecutor-General’s Office (SKP), responsible for all preliminary criminal investigations, would become a standalone body reporting directly to him, simply known as the Investigations Committee (SK: Sledstvenny komitet). Four days later, he submitted a new draft federal law On the Investigations Committee of the Russian Federation to the State Duma.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 5, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/the-investigations-committee-not-so-much-russias-fbi-more-a-kremlin-watchdog/
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