The Chekist-Gangster Nexus: The Weaponization of Organized Crime by Russian Secret Services in Russia and Abroad
LIVE WEBINAR
THE CHEKIST-GANGSTER NEXUS: The Weaponization of Organized Crime by Russian Secret Services in Russia and Abroad
Wednesday, 2 October 2024
12:30 PM US Eastern Standard Time / 18:30 PM Central European Time
LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7yEYL6hbpI
Il webinar si svolgerà in lingua inglese
PANELISTS:
Yuri Felshtinsky (Historian and Author)
Olga Lautman (Investigative Researcher and Senior Fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA))
Dina Khapaeva (Scholar of Historical Memory, Russian Program Director at the School of Modern Languages, the Georgia Institute of Technology)
Anastasia Kirilenko (Investigative Journalist, The Insider)
MODERATOR:
Donald N. Jensen (Adjunct Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)
CONCLUDING REMARKS:
Luigi Sergio Germani (Director, Gino Germani Institute)
Mafia groups and international criminal syndicates serve as tools of statecraft, hybrid warfare, and self-enrichment to those in the Putin regime. The KGB-organized crime nexus in Soviet times and its subsequent evolution is a neglected topic in Western analysis, but it is crucial for understanding the Putin system and its possible futures.
This alliance has expanded and become more deeply intertwined under Putin, according to open-source evidence. For example, the FSB’s role in guarding regime security, controlling society, and fighting corruption has expanded while the FSB itself has become increasingly corrupt and criminalized. Western experts have also noted intensifying Russian secret service use of organized crime networks for intelligence gathering and influence operations in the West, including “strategic corruption” activities.
In this webinar, six experts will examine the Chekist-organized crime nexus, the impact of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the future – concerning both Putin’s regime and Russian subversive activity abroad. The webinar is open to the public/free of charge.
