New research - Criminal Geographies: How the Russo-Ukrainian War Reshaped Global Crime Networks

Dr Alexander Kupatadze (KCL) and Prof Erica Marat (NDU) have published their latest SOC ACE research, Criminal Geographies: How the Russo-Ukrainian War Reshaped Global Crime Networks, which examines how organised crime connected to Russia and Ukraine has been displaced, transformed, or reconstituted since 2022. It challenges assumptions, showing displacement has been transnational, multi-directional and enduring rather than local or temporary, transforming organised crime rather than suppressing it.

Using media data, trade‑based money‑laundering analysis and over 100 interviews, researchers find criminal activity has shifted across borders, expanded in Russia, and taken on new digital and transnational forms. Drug trafficking routes, illicit trade and sanctions‑evasion schemes have all adapted, with networks stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia and beyond. The findings show war and sanctions act as systemic shocks, reorganising illicit markets and demanding more forward‑looking, multi‑layered policy responses.

Kupatadze and Marat’s research paper and summary briefing note present the full findings of the research, while their accompanying briefing note, The boomerang effect: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine expands crime rate at home, demonstrates how armed conflict abroad has destabilised Russia’s own security environment more severely than Ukraine's, making Russia both more criminalised and more repressive.

Find all three publications, as well as papers from the project’s first phase, on the Exploring the Consequences of Organised Crime and Illegal Trade Displacement on Eurasia SOC ACE project page.