Preliminary findings on Organised Crime and Illegal Trade in Eurasia by Dr. Kupatadze and Dr. Marat
Dr Alexander Kupatadze (KCL) and Dr Erica Marat (NDU) are in the second phase of their research ‘Exploring the consequences of organised crime and illegal trade displacement in Eurasia.’
Preliminary findings have led to the formulation of three hypotheses for further testing:
Organised crime that has been displaced from Ukraine to neighbouring countries is mostly conditioned by familiarity with political system, pre-existing networks, commonality in language and cultural affinity
Organised crime that remained in Ukraine has been mostly driven by the nexus between state-affiliated actors and criminal activity and new opportunities within criminal markets generated by the war
The emergence of illicit flows has captured the attention of criminal networks in neighbouring countries and created a rent-seeking opportunity for political elites, with the extent of the latter’s involvement varying between countries and contexts.