Eastern empire - Criminals infiltrate Russia's Far East

The very characteristics that make Russia such a congenial breeding ground for its own criminals – including high levels of official corruption, weak judicial institutions, a lawless political culture and a thriving illegal economy – also make the country appealing to foreign criminal groups. Only rarely will they seek directly to intrude onto the turfs of local groups, which are typically ready to use violence to resist. Instead, they tend to seek alliances and areas of common ground.

As a result, Russia is home to a wide range of foreign criminals carrying out a variety of illegal activities.

The most commonly encountered foreign organised crime networks are those from the other post-Soviet states, primarily Georgia and the other Caucasus regions.

Azeris are also active in the country's criminal community and often rely both on kinship ties and also their ability to move between Russia and Azerbaijan to avoid arrest and smuggle goods. By contrast, Armenian organised crime is relatively low-level in Russia and criminal leaders may even co-operate rather than compete with the Russian gangs.