Organized Crime in Russia - Arms Trafficking

Arms Trafficking

Arms trafficking has become a significant problem in the Russian Federation following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The former Eastern Bloc countries (including Russia) are the source of the majority of illegal weapons in circulation around the world. Illegal arms possession is a problem in many regions in the nation, especially in the areas suffering from insurgency such as Chechnya and Dagestan.

Because of the general weakening of the government control and the decentralization of power in the nation in the first half of the 1990s, small arms from several military units and arsenals made their way into the hands of civilians and local unofficial armed formations. Gunrunning in Russia stemmed from corruption in the armed forces and the illegal sale of military equipment. It has been suggested that parts of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and arms industry were engaged in arms trafficking with the Chechen separatists.

Russian troops play an important role in arms trafficking especially in the war zones. Poor salary for service persons coupled with lack of control over weapon storage resulted in troop involvement in illegal arms trade. The Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin publicly stated in 2003 that increasing corruption left the Russian military in a "post-critical state".

There have been accusations and counter-accusations between Russia and Georgia regarding illegal arms selling to Chechen separatists. Russia alleged that Chechen separatists received weapons through illegal networks going to Chechnya through Georgia and Azerbaijan. On the other hand, Georgia accused Russia of corruption on military bases, poor security infrastructure and low professionalism among Russian troops as the reasons behind the spread of illegal weapons.

The types of firearms in illegal possession varies throughout the nation: in Siberia unregistered hunting rifles are the primarily found illegal weapons while in Chechnya the predominant illicit arms are illegally held military weapons. Small arms are illegally proliferated from the main centers of small arms manufacturing, Tula and Izhevsk. In 2003 an estimated 300,000 to 1.5 million illegal arms were in circulation within Russia.

According to the statistics from the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, 1.5 times more people were arrested for gunrunning in 2001 than in 2000; in total 26,113 arrests were made and 65,000 crimes were committed using illegal arms. In 2000, the number of seized unregistered firearms was 300,000, which was a 37% increase compared with 1999. Many Russian criminal organizations, aside from arms trafficking in Russia, provide weapons to the separatists groups in Chechnya.

However several attempts were made to combat arms trafficking. Small arms manufacturers in the country have tightened their security systems. Special prosecutors’ offices, which were originally set up in the 1950s for supervising secrecy in nuclear facilities, have been given the responsibility of the security of defense plants and curbing the theft of small arms from the plants. The Government of Russia has undertaken a programme to increase security at arms storage facilities at military bases.