The Brothers' Circle or Bratski Krug ( rus, Братский круг) is a term used to refer to Russian organized crime, commonly the

Russian mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...

. It is a loose translation of the Russian term "Bratva" (Russian: Братва), which can also be loosely translated as “brotherhood” or “band of brothers". The term "bratva" received its wide dissemination in the 1990s after the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and was used as an informal address among the members of many gangs which spread throughout post-soviet republics. Today the term is used as an informal way of address among close friends. This form of address and lack of proper interpretation resulted in its name being used in connection to Russian organized crime.

U.S. Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

officials suggest that it operates in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the United States, and is controlled by

Vladislav Leontyev Vladislav Vladimirovich Leontyev (born July 5, 1971 in Gorky)

, a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

man from

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

."What is the Brothers’ Circle?"
12 March 2012, ''

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...

'' In 2011 the group was defined by the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the "Strategy on Combating Transnational Organized Crime", as "A multiethnic criminal group composed of leaders and senior members of several criminal organizations largely based in countries of Europe. Many Brothers' Circle's members share a common ideology based on the

thief in law A “thief in law” (Russian: вор в зако́не, Georgian: კანონიერი ქურდი), in the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet states, and respective diasporas abroad is a specifically granted formal and special status of " ...

tradition, which seeks to spread their brand of criminal influence around the world."

Debate over existence

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti (born October 1965) is a London-based political scientist, lecturer and writer on transnational crime and Russian security affairs and director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence. He is an honorary professor at the UCL School of Sl ...

, an expert on Eurasian security, has stated that: "I have not found anyone in Russian law enforcement or elsewhere who actually says 'yes, the Brothers' Circle is an organization and it exists. As such the label Brothers' Circle could be seen as an attempt to connect disparate criminal gangs." In June 2012, with the designation of five more kingpins, Galeotti restated his opinion that the Brothers' Circle did not exist as a specific gang, but noted that the sanctions were in fact targeting members of

Aslan Usoyan Aslan Usoyan ( ka, ასლან უსოიანი, russian: Асла́н Раши́дович Усоя́н; 27 February 1937 – 16 January 2013), also known as Baba Gurgur and Grandpa Hassan ( ''Ded Hasan'') or just Grandpa (), was a mafi ...

's criminal network.

Alleged members

Zakhar Kalashov Zakhariy Knyazevich Kalashov ( ka, ზაქარია 'შაქრო' კალაშოვი, russian: Заха́рий Кня́зевич Калашо́в); born 20 May 1953, nicknamed "Young Shakro" (), is a Russian mafia boss, notoriou ...

*Vasiliy Khristoforov *

Kamchy Kolbayev Kamchy Asanbekovich Kolbayev is an alleged crime boss in Kyrgyzstan. Crimes he has been linked to include chocolate trafficking . The US State Department in 2007 said he was "considered to be the leader of the most influential criminal chocolate ...

Vladislav Leontyev Vladislav Vladimirovich Leontyev (born July 5, 1971 in Gorky)

Gafur Rakhimov Gafur Rakhimov ( uz, G'ofur-Arslonbek Ahmedovich Rahimov) (born July 22, 1951) is an Uzbek businessman and sports administrator who was the President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for 20 months until his resignation in July 2019 ...

*Lazar Shaybazyan *Alexey Zaytsev

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brothers' Circle Factions of the Russian Mafia Kyrgyzstani gangsters Uzbekistani gangsters Gangsters from Georgia (country) Secret societies related to organized crime Transnational organized crime

Debate over existence

Alleged members

See also

References