Criminal Market of Some Items, Restricted in Civil Circulation, During the Pandemic and the Special Military Operation
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The author analyzes the criminal market of items restricted or prohibited in civil circulation in Russia, presents its description and some of its specific determining factors during the pandemic and the special military operation. The analysis is based on the statistical data collected by various governmental and non-governmental organizations that register the processes taking place in this sphere, as well as on the expert assessments of specialists involved in the analysis of situation in this sector of the criminal market. Since the criminal market of this kind is of transnational character, the comparative analysis is also based on data form foreign sources of both statistical and analytical nature. Data from other time periods, not connected with either the pandemic or the special military operation, were used for the same purpose. Research results are presented for separate segments of the criminal market under analysis, and according to how widespread they are on the territory of the Russian Federation. The author gives a detailed analysis of the criminal markets of narcotics and potent substances, arms, humans, as well as human organs and tissues used for transplantation. In general, the author describes the following changes in each of the analyzed segments: qualitative and quantitative characteristics; trade situation in the market of the specific segment; impact that the pandemic and the special military operation made on the processes under consideration. The analyzed segments share some common features, namely, expansion, changes in structure and logistics of delivering the items under consideration; a wide use of online platforms, social networks, as well as other IT-technologies in illegal trade, which, on the one hand, make it possible to increase the volume of the trade in criminal items and, on the other, make it harder to detect these crimes, thus increasing the safety of criminal activities.
Source: Russian Journal of Criminology
Author: Anna Repetskaya
Institution: Baikal State University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W6943890566