Is Russian mafia dangerous?

The U.S. Department of State claims that Russia has the most dangerous mafia. It must be mentioned, however, that the names of the mafiosos unveiled by the State Department mainly belong to the citizens of Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia and some other countries. Experts agree that this ill-conceived document may now impede the easing of the visa regime between Russia and the U.S.

In July, the US President Barack Obama signed a decree to impose extra sanctions against organized crime groups. Shortly after that, the State Department approved a new list of these crime groups, which says that there is nothing worse than the Russian mafia as far as the US national security is concerned. Indeed, the notorious ‘Russian mafia’ was strong in the US in the 1990s, while today there are other criminal groups which pose a much bigger threat to the US, says Sergei Markov, a political expert.

"Criminals from the former Soviet republics are not that dangerous for the US today. The legendary Italian mafia, so well-known thanks to Coppola`s film The Godfather and numerous novels, is still very active in the U.S. In the past 20-30 years, Chinese criminal groups have become much stronger there, too. And with the increasing influx of the Spanish-speaking population into the US, the number of ethnic criminal groups is not declining."

Political expert Vilen Ivanov believes that today the term ‘Russian mafia’ is unacceptable.

"This term originated during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was referred to as ‘an evil empire’. But Russia has changed dramatically since then – we have a new regime and a new society. Nevertheless, the attitude does not seem to have changed significantly. Russia remains a rival for the U.S. in some way, causing a kind of a phobia."

The worst thing here is that this negative attitude to ‘Russians’ may affect the easing of the visa regime between the two countries. Sergei Markov continues:

"There is a risk that some restrictions could be imposed on the visa regime between our countries. Mr. Obama has been negotiating the possibility of easing visa rules for the Russian citizens. Since travelling from Russia to the US is quite expensive, an influx of immigrants from Russia is very unlikely. Now that Russia is actively developing its economy, the number of people willing to leave the country is getting smaller. And millions of labor migrants from the former Soviet republics won`t go to the US. Meanwhile, some people in the US have political reasons for not allowing Obama to improve the relations with Russia."

At the same time, ahead of the 2012 presidential elections the Obama administration might want to turn the situation with the ‘Russian mafia’ to their advantage. Since the current US leader approves closer ties with Russia, while his opponents and some US citizens are against it, it may be that the State Department is making negative remarks about Russia on purpose.