Translated material
Priority national threat
Vladimir Ustinov believes that criminal groups “are everywhere”
“Organized crime in Russia has acquired the character of a national threat,” Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov said yesterday at a coordination meeting of heads of law enforcement agencies and the judicial system on the fight against organized crime. The situation, according to the Prosecutor General, is catastrophic - it turns out that almost all spheres of government are infected with crime. “No matter what area you look at, we have criminal groups everywhere,” Vladimir Ustinov was indignant.The speech of the Prosecutor General could be considered a reaction to the Address to the Federal Assembly, which the President delivered the other day. However, in it, Vladimir Putin focused mainly on corruption, while Mr. Ustinov raised the issue more broadly.
The fight against corruption and crime became unexpectedly acute back in April, when Vladimir Putin said that “customs authorities and representatives of business structures are merging in economic ecstasy.” A series of high-profile revelations related to smuggling soon followed, for which employees of the Federal Customs Service (FCS) were arrested. In total, 20 such criminal cases are currently being investigated across Russia. At the end of last week, several high-ranking officials of the Federal Customs Service, FSB, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office itself have already lost their posts. And last Saturday in Sochi, the president said: “The work is not finished, and not only in the field of customs.” Law enforcement sources suggested that these resignations would not be followed by new criminal cases. However, yesterday's meeting of prosecutorial and judicial authorities casts doubt on this. Moreover, it can be regarded as a preview to the next scandalous revelations, and possibly to new criminal cases.
Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, speaking about the enormous growth of organized crime, said that it poses a danger no less than terrorism, the shadow economy and drug trafficking. “It affected almost all spheres - political, economic, social,” the Prosecutor General enlightened his colleagues. “Crime is becoming more and more insolent, increasingly penetrating into the same government and law enforcement agencies.” He further explained how exactly the virus of organized crime spreads: “Groups and small gangs of the 1991 model have transformed into strictly vertical systems with not only interregional, but also international connections. Organized criminal groups and communities today operate in almost every subject of the federation; they have appeared in all large cities without exception; they operate brazenly in border areas. Criminal communities operate not only in the CIS countries, but also in the countries of Eastern and Western Europe, on the American continent and in Southeast Asia.”
In conclusion, the Prosecutor General appealed to his colleagues to “strengthen the fight against criminal communities and stop fighting them on paper, hiding behind impersonal gross indicators.” Apparently, now these “indicators” should turn from impersonal to personal, that is, targeted. Now, at the call of Vladimir Ustinov, the heads of law enforcement agencies will have to discuss measures to reduce the scale of organized crime, stop their activities, disunite and eliminate them, and bring their leaders and participants to criminal responsibility.
The scale of Russian crime, including corruption, has never been a secret to anyone. What remains a secret for now are the reasons why the authorities suddenly decided to qualify these phenomena in terms of a “national threat” and declare that this disease has affected all spheres of society and the state. Law enforcement officials themselves are at a loss as to whether this is just an attempt to “shake up” the security forces, an intensified struggle among themselves between pro-government groups that traditionally use the power resource, or a larger, if not global, political campaign.