Kremlin Crackdown on Veteran Crime Bosses Amid Ukraine War Fallout

In a wave of high-profile prosecutions, a Moscow court ordered the arrest in absentia of Vyacheslav Shestakov (nicknamed “Sliva”), a 69-year-old former leader of the Lyubertsy organised-crime group now residing in Spain. Earlier, 75-year-old Ilya Traber, known as the “Antiques Dealer” and a longtime associate of Vladimir Putin, was detained outside St Petersburg and transferred to a pre-trial detention centre in Moscow. An international arrest warrant was also issued for 64-year-old Georgian gangster Merab Dzhangveladze, who was active in the 2010s. These actions target figures who were previously considered untouchable and signal a Kremlin effort to reassert state dominance over the underworld.

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Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the long-standing north-route that moved up to a third of Europe’s heroin from Afghanistan, along with counterfeit cigarettes and illegal firearms, has been severed. Gangs that once profited from these channels now face loss of revenue, while criminal groups along the borders with Belarus, Georgia and Azerbaijan have taken over the new smuggling pathways. Simultaneously, prisoners have been released by volunteering for combat, and an estimated 15 percent of Russian soldiers are using drugs, feeding a market that supplies both narcotics and looted goods from occupied territories.

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Official statistics show organised-crime-related offences rose by roughly one-third in 2025. The war has hollowed out the police force, leaving it about 25 percent below full strength. Russia now has an estimated 10 million illegal firearms in circulation. When the conflict ends, up to 30 percent of returning veterans could experience PTSD, and many are expected to drift into organised crime, potentially igniting new turf wars.

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Police officials have openly warned that demobilised soldiers are likely to join criminal groups, prompting the Kremlin’s current “archaeological policing” campaign—targeting once-untouchable godfathers to demonstrate that the state remains “the biggest gang in town.” The strategy, however, appears increasingly ineffective as newer, aggressive gangs exploit the destabilised underworld landscape.

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