INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sitting at a cafe in the Ukrainian port of Odesa, a local smuggler drew on his cigarette as he explained how the war has disrupted
long-established underworld ties between Russia and Ukraine."The vast majority of Ukrainian criminals took the side of Ukraine," said
59-year-old Kirim, who spoke on condition that he be given a pseudonym."But there are also those who continue to cooperate with Russia," he
noted, speaking only once a waiter had delivered the coffees and left.The cross-border network of drugs, guns and people trafficking that
developed between Ukraine and Russia from the rubble of the Soviet Union had been considered one of the world's strongest.Those links have
been disrupted but persist.When Moscow's troops attacked Ukraine in February 2022 it resulted in the severing of a smuggling highway that
criminal ecosystems in Europe
They were one and the same," said Tuesday Reitano, deputy director at the non-profit Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized
Crime.'Patriotic' criminalsThe war threw up physical barriers, in the form of frontline combat and checkpoints, as well as rage over the
massive destruction and suffering the invasion inflicted."The us-against-them sentiment has been strong in Ukraine, so that even criminals
feel patriotic," said Reitano.Kirim identified himself as a patriot and claimed to have cut 100% of his smuggling ties with Russians, while
noting that some criminals have put money toward the war or charity efforts.Some have also reportedly joined fighting on the front, but
Reitano noted that criminals can use war to try to rebrand themselves or win leniency from authorities in exchange for support.Another Odesa
pseudonym, said the criminals' code bars any cooperation whatsoever with the state, which he described as fundamentally corrupt."I don't
want to fight for them [army], but I will fight for my city," he added, sipping his second late-morning beer and wearing aviator
sunglasses.Both self-identified Odesa underworld associates said that Ukrainian security services had told criminals to lay off their
activities when Russia invaded, and welcomed information on Russians.Some have apparently not followed the advice.Ukraine's security
service told AFP it "neutralized" in spring 2022 a powerful criminal group in Odesa, which had cooperated with the enemy and "terrorized and
intimidated locals."'Odesa is Odesa'As the war broke out, figures in high-level, international organized crime groups left Russia and
Ukraine for Central Asia, the Gulf States and elsewhere."We know that there is still plenty of cooperation between the underworld of Russia
and the underworld of Ukraine outside of Ukraine," said Reitano.Europol also pointed to the very high likelihood that gangsters from the two
nations are continuing to work together.The agency noted there is never just one route for smuggling, so shutting down one does not
definitively staunch the flow of contraband, and international crime groups are diverse as well as agile by definition."They look at the
profits and even with the war, they continue their criminal business, and they look for the best opportunity," said Catherine De Bolle, the
agency's executive director."We do not see at the moment a split between the Russian and Ukrainian mafia," she added.Whether it is with
streets."Nevertheless, all this goes on
Odesa is Odesa," Kirim the smuggler said with a very slight shrug.
