One of the foundations of Vladimir Putin’s legitimacy has been his claim to have restored law and order after the brutal anarchy of the 1990s. But increasingly, thanks to the Ukraine war, we see open concerns that Russia is sliding back towards the “wild 90s”.
Last year, official data showed the overall crime rate in Russia fell to a 16-year low, but serious crimes surged to a 15-year high. Offences connected to organised crime were up by a third in just a single year, as heavily armed gangs competed for turf and resources. Meanwhile, unofficial vigilante patrols are emerging across the country.
Critically, the police are worryingly under-strength, largely due to the war. The total strength of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) is meant to be around 940,000. That would make Russia one of the most heavily policed countries in the world, but numbers are deceptive. At least 150,000 are civilian staff, and many uniformed officers are engaged in the kind of work that in the UK is carried out by civilians.
Shorts
Even so, the MVD is having major trouble with recruiting officers, with so much of Russia’s manpower focused on continuing the gruelling war with Ukraine. One in four positions are vacant, and some “beat cop” units are up to 40 per cent understrength. As one anonymous police captain admitted on social media: “We used to have cops with no equipment; now we have all the kit, but no officers”.
