On Thursday 24 December 2009, President Medvedev signed a decree which he said would “enhance the work of the Interior Ministry”, and in particular “specify organisational changes and changes in certain financial and legal issues.” Read the full post »
The latest Russian police reform: the Kremlin is likely to be the only beneficiary
Posted by Mark Galeotti on January 1, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/the-latest-russian-police-reform-the-kremlin-is-likely-to-be-the-only-beneficiary/
Russia’s police, unreformed
The appointment, after five months’ haggling and searching, of Major General Vladimir Kolokoltsev to be Moscow’s new police chief after the dismissal of General Pronin, provides the hook for another RFE/RL commentary: Three Reasons Why Russia’s Police Remain Unreformed. The three reasons? Politicization, corruption and a lack of resources. Of course, the fundamental meta-reason behind all three is that the Kremlin isn’t interested in meaningful police reform that would create an effective, independent law enforcement structure such that could underpin a genuine rule-of-law state. Alas.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 10, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/russias-police-unreformed/
General Shamanov and corruption within the High Command
Just as a little cross-post, I would mention that I have just had a short commentary published on the RFE/RL website on the Shamanov case and what it may say about corruption within the High Command and the prospects for change. My downbeat conclusions are that “Whatever happens to Shamanov, the likelihood is that Russia’s dirty generals will continue to enjoy business as usual – so long as they keep a low profile.” After all, the present military reform programme represents a major bonanza for these crooks in braid, and the last thing they want to do is to see Defence Minister Serdyukov forced and able to do something serious about the numerous scams they have running.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on September 29, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/general-shamanov-and-corruption-within-the-high-command/
In the belly of the beast: what the hit on ‘Yaponchik’ says about Russian organised crime
On the evening of Tuesday 28 July, the Russian vor v zakone (‘thief within the code’) Vyacheslav Ivankov, better known as ‘Yaponchik’ or ‘Little Jap’, had just finished a working dinner at the Thai Elephant restaurant on the Khoroshevskoye Shosse in northern Moscow. Although accompanied by a bodyguard, as he came onto the street, a sniper using a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle put from one to three bullets into his stomach (reports vary), leaving him seriously injured, albeit not dead.
On one level, this might seem of little real significance. Most of Russia’s still-common assassinations and contract killings are not of innocent civilians and investigative journalists but mobsters and their clients and associates. However, there are reasons to read rather more into this hit and to see the shootings as, if not a ‘shot heard around the world’, at least one heard around the Russian underworld.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on July 31, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/in-the-belly-of-the-beast-what-the-hit-on-%e2%80%98yaponchik%e2%80%99-says-about-russian-organised-crime/
Korabelnikov leaves Russian military intelligence
On 24 April 2009, General Valentin Korabelnikov was replaced by his deputy, Lt. General Alexander Shlyakhturov, as head of the GRU, Russian military intelligence (technically, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff). Read the full post »
Posted by Mark Galeotti on April 26, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/korabelnikov-leaves-russian-military-intelligence/
Financial crisis puts new pressure on Russian police, but means boom time for security forces
Although Putin made a great play of his commitment to law and order, the emphasis always seemed to be on order more than law. Resources were devoted more to defence and public order, but nonetheless the bonanza of oil and gas revenues did mean that spending on the police picked up, making good some of the deficits created in the 1990s, when successive budget crises left them in a disastrous state. At the same time, a trickle-down of prosperity did help control (if not really reverse) the rise in street crime, while organized crime matured, with real power in the underworld moving from ‘street mafiya’ to ‘suit mafiya’, the age of the overt gangsters known as ‘bandits’ giving way to the behind-the-scenes ‘authorities’ who blended crime, business and politics. This did not mean that organized crime disappeared, but at least it did mean an end to the more violent, indiscriminate days of the 1990s turf wars.
However, the global financial crisis is making its mark in Russia, too. Read the full post »
Posted by Mark Galeotti on February 7, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/financial-crisis-puts-new-pressure-on-russian-police-but-means-boom-time-for-security-forces/
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