FBIS4-68801 "jpusr055___94016"
FBIS-USR-94-055 JPRS
FBIS Report: Central Eurasia 16 April 1994 RUSSIA REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Khabarovsk Authorities Fight Organized Crime

Khabarovsk Authorities Fight Organized Crime 944F0677A Khabarovsk TIKHOOKEANSKAYA ZVEZDA in Russian 16 Apr 94 p 2 944F0677A Khabarovsk TIKHOOKEANSKAYA ZVEZDA Russian CSO [Interview with Yuriy Kolotvin, deputy chief of the Regional Office for Organized Crime, by S. Baranov; place and date not given: "Fifty Mafia Groups for the Kray. And a `Syndicate' To Boot"] [Text] Just a few years ago even the question of whether there was organized crime here in the kray was being discussed in the press by way of a debate. Today no one has any doubt as to the presence of organized crime groups: They exist. As does now also a force opposed to them--the Regional Office for Organized Crime. Formed two years ago, this MVD subdivision is showing itself to be increasingly decisive. The work on countering the mafia crime formations in our kray is headed by Yuriy Kolotvin, deputy chief of this office. [Baranov] So what is organized crime in the kray today? [Kolotvin] Insofar as the legislators have yet to give us precise legal criteria of a definition of the "organized crime" concept, we have had to formulate them ourselves. As distinct from the customary criminal groupings, so to speak, organized-crime communities have to have been in existence for quite some time and to have quite a clear-cut structure of the chain of command, intelligence, outlets to the organs of administration and the law enforcement authorities, and legal or semilegal forms of "laundering" money obtained illegally. On the basis of these estimates, we count in the kray today one criminal community--the "syndicate"--and 46 organized-crime groups. Those formed on a national basis included. They include three Azerbaijani, two Armenian, two Chechen, and two Korean crime groups. But I have to specify immediately that both quantitatively and qualitatively the composition of the groups is changing constantly. Last year, for example, two Azerbaijani groupings were locked in a mortal clash. Nine persons on both sides died as a result. Some of the groups, having been brought under our control, are disbanding themselves. We "fish out" some, so to speak, in actual crimes and institute criminal proceedings against them. Thus two crime bosses and 35 leaders of various criminal groups were arraigned last year on the basis of material of our officers. As a result we were able to prevent the misappropriation of monetary resources totaling R5.5 billion and the attempted sale of almost 10 kg of industrial silver, to detect and confiscate R2 million worth of counterfeit R5,000 notes and $4,000 worth in $100 bills, and to confiscate from the criminals 51 firearms and 35 kg of narcotics. [Baranov] But does not your subdivision duplicate the work of other militia services, criminal investigation, say? [Kolotvin] I do not believe so. Although there are many problems that we have to resolve together. The point is that organized crime, availing itself of the new social opportunities, is rapidly invading all spheres of the economic and social life of society and mastering increasingly new types of crime, for which the Criminal Code has no name even. Thus are "dead zones," at which the militia branch services either cannot call in time or at which they cannot call at all, are emerging. Our officers employ in their work both the principle of the work of criminal investigation--from the crime to the person--and the principle of work of the economic crime subdivisions--from the person to the crime. It is the combination of these two principles that is enabling us to [word illegible] and, if not wipe out, then keep under control these "dead zones." This was the case with, for example, forged letters of advice, owing to the use of which in the Far East region approximately R3 billion were lost. As soon as we learned about this, we made a careful study of the forms and paths of the embezzlement of the money and performed a colossal amount of work on detecting the enterprises that had been specially formed to this end. Twenty-seven of them were discovered in Khabarovsk alone, incidentally, and this made it possible not only to save over R5 billion for the kray but also to erect quite dependable barriers in the way of the transfer of monetary resources. [Baranov] Does this mean that you are having today to deal more with crimes in the economic sphere? [Kolotvin] Such a tilt has, indeed, emerged, but this is dictated more by the criminalization of our economy. The public sector has one foot in the grave, virtually. It has come to be replaced by a variety of limited-liability partnerships, associations, individual-private enterprises, and joint ventures, many of which are in practice merely a cover for illegal activity and the laundering of criminal cash. Thus last year the Komsomolsk-na-Amure branch of the Office for Organized Crime uncovered the theft by a number of officials and the commander of a military unit of military assets, provisions, and explosives worth a total of over R18 million. It has now already been established that everything that was misappropriated was sold via commercial structures controlled by the "syndicate." At a warehouse of the Tatyana individual-private enterprise our officers confiscated more than 200 kg of TNT demolition blocks, approximately 100 detonators, and 70 meters of safety fuse. A group of embezzlers at the shipbuilding yard was discovered there, in Komsomolsk, also. In exchange for consumer merchandise it has given Japan ultra-pure copper intended for military production. And these transactions were effected via the Yeva commercial enterprise. We were able to prevent the removal of the last consignment of copper (six tonnes). In a word, certain commercial structures require today the constant and unremitting attention of the militia authorities, ours included. But the economy far from exhausts the spheres of our attention, of course. [Baranov] To what else do you pay attention? [Kolotvin] Take racketeering. Given the imperfect state of Russian criminal legislation, extortion has become the favorite form of shaking loose money for our organized-crime groups. It is more profitable for organized crime than the traditional business--prostitution, gambling, narcotics. Strapping young men approach a businessman and offer him so-called "protection." And although, as a rule, there are neither direct threats nor other physical pressure--only hints at possible dangers--such offers are accepted practically without a hitch. And this type of "activity" brings in enormous profits, effortlessly, what is more. Were the payers to see, willy-nilly, what tears are shed by their "protectors" whom we have taken into custody, they would not be giving up their money so easily. But fear in the face of the extortioners is so great that the victims of regular racketeering prefer to conceal themselves, are driving their problems inward, and are, ultimately, drawing even bigger trouble onto themselves. Quite recently we were involved in a case of a businessman who had been "held" for almost a week and who, possibly, had been subjected to physical pressure in the gym of the Rossich Club, which had hitherto been classed with us as being in far from criminal ranks. It was demanded of the businessman that he return R24 million which he allegedly owed. Closer familiarization with the records of the Rossich Club, incidentally, affords reason to believe that its members have not eschewed concealed forms of racketeering either. Why, in fact, have numerous commercial firms suddenly become enamored with sport, that cultivated by Rossich, what is more, and begun to transfer millions in assets to the club's account? Generally, fear, far-fetched, for the most part, is enabling a variety of no-good people to prosper. Although whoever has, for all that, ventured to turn to us has not yet once regretted it. [Baranov] It is hard to believe. After all, organized crime is, you will agree, far from innocuous.... [Kolotvin] This is true. But there is real danger and there is a mythical danger spurred more by the representatives of the criminal communities themselves, who make money out of general fear. But it is a very great distance from threats to their actual realization. We know this better than anyone. Especially since we are today capable of providing perfectly dependable protection for people who have turned to us for help. And there have been no malfunctions as yet. It is not fortuitous that the "syndicate" and organizations under its control are now trying to resort more to psychological methods, via the news media included. Many citizens of Khabarovsk most likely witnessed what strong words against the militia on the TVA [expansion unidentified] screen were uttered by Sergeyev, chairman of the Yedinstvo public organization, when we made public facts about the past of the leaders of this organization. It never occurred to any of our officers or officers of the Internal Affairs Administration, incidentally, to appear on TVA and if only somehow to restrict the flow of Yedinstvo's protests. We believed and continue to believe that this is exclusively the business of the staff of the television station. That at least three members of Yedinstvo are at the present time under arrest for perfectly specific crimes is another matter. And they were arrested before Yedinstvo's television attack, what is more. One way or another, we understand full well that we are constantly in the sights of criminal structures and that any misstep of ours, any mistake--and our officers are human, for all that--could immediately be presented in a distorted form. So we try to make as few mistakes as possible. [Baranov] Since we are talking about employees of your office, what are things like for them today? [Kolotvin] Thanks to the assistance of the kray Internal Affairs Administration, our outfit has been noticeably reinforced. We now have subdivisions in Sovetskaya Gavan and Vanino, in Amursk and Nikolayevsk. Special rapid-deployment subdivisions are being formed in Khabarovsk and in Komsomolsk. Our office has, in accordance with a decision of the administration of the kray, been allocated premises. And although they do not entirely resolve the problem of accommodating our officers, they are, for all that, better than nothing. We will hope that the social problems of the personnel of the Office for Organized Crime will be resolved. Social problems, on which unfortunately we can exert no in any way appreciable influence, disturb us no less than our own, for that matter. The problem of the youth, primarily. We are noting with alarm organized crime's vigorous penetration of the youth milieu. Having a criminal record and wearing the badges of affiliation to the criminal world are today considered among certain young people the height of valor, virtually. Last year the Komsomolsk "syndicate" even attempted to demonstrate its youth strength, organizing a protest action in connection with the militia's arrest of crime boss Turbin. Only thanks to the decisive and prompt measures of the leadership of the Komsomolsk Internal Affairs Administration was this action thwarted. But who could vouch under the conditions of the present social instability, inflation, and rising unemployment for the criminal world not tomorrow parading not hundreds but thousands of its new recruits? Another serious problem is corruption. It is increasingly encompassing the authorities, the business leadership, and the militia and other law enforcement authorities. Senior officials and the criminal communities are coalescing in the soil of corruption. And although we already have considerable material on a number of officials, on account of the absence of legislation on corruption, we can use only that which comes under articles of the current Criminal Code. This year, for example, we have succeeded in instituting two such sets of criminal proceedings: on the criminal collaboration of the chief accountant of the Pishchevik works under construction in Komsomolsk and the director of the Tsentr limited-liability partnership from Amursk. Abusing their positions, this pair embezzled R20 million intended for the construction of the Pishchevik. Criminal proceedings are being instituted against the director of the Ladoga small-scale enterprise for forgery, via which R5 million were misappropriated. Other material, alas, is as yet lying unused and is waiting for its time to come.... And one further cause of our distress--the conditions of the storage of weapons. Even in the military units the theft of weapons has become almost a commonplace phenomenon. The theft of 122 Makarov pistols and Nagant revolvers from the warehouse of the Higher Militia School was uncovered last year. And eight assault rifles have "disappeared" this year from the weapons depot of a military unit. And our officers recently detained a group of inhabitants of Nakhodka, who had brought into Khabarovsk two pistols, one Nagant revolver, two grenades, and three firing mechanisms for explosives. The origins of all these "goods" are currently being looked into, but we can from our own experience already surmise that there have once again been sloppy work, heedlessness, and a lack of control somewhere. [Baranov] What are the current concerns of the regional office for organized crime? [Kolotvin] Waiting for new homes, if we are speaking about internal matters. As far as work is concerned, there is, as always, a multitude of them. A group of the Nikolayevsk Bulk Plant, which this year alone has contrived to misappropriate 700 tonnes of diesel fuel, is being investigated in Nikolayevsk-na-Amure. A group of persons who stole R25 million worth of liquor from a storehouse of the Intertorg individual-private enterprise is being investigated. We have considerable work to do with the Rossich Athletic Club. The leader of the Nikolayevsk "syndicate" is being arraigned on suspicion of homicide, and cases concerning the misappropriation of material assets totaling R80 million are being investigated. Sufficient? [Baranov] Do you have sufficient forces for it all? [Kolotvin] We should have. Were we to meet with more understanding and assistance on the part of the municipal and rayon authorities and inhabitants of the kray, we could be more vigorous in curbing the onslaught of crime....