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

Russian mafia The Russian mafia ( or ), also known as Bratva ( ; ) less as Obshchak (Общак) or Brigades (Бригады) , is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating or/and operating in Russia. In December 2009, Timur ...

. 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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, 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 addressing close friends. This form of address and lack of proper interpretation resulted in its name being used in connection to Russian organized crime. With support from Spanish prosecutor José "Pepe" Grinda González and

Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised in tackling organized crime, ...

, Spanish, German, Austrian, and Swiss authorities from June 2005 until 2007 conducted Operation Wasp () () and, later, Operation Troika () from 2008 to 2009 which led to the arrest by 2010 of more than 60 individuals including Zakhar Kalashov.

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. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

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

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

man from

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

."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 journalism, investigative journalists. 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. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or Service (economics), services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synon ...

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

Debate over existence

Mark Galeotti, 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 Rashidovich Usoyan ( ka, ასლან რაშიდოვიჩ უსოიანი, ; 27 February 1937 – 16 January 2013), also known as Baba Gurgur and Grandpa Hassan () or just Grandpa (), was a Georgian-born Soviet-Russian crim ...

's criminal network.

Alleged members

* Salim Abduvaliev *Vitaly Idrilov () * Zakhar Kalashov *Vasiliy Khristoforov * Kamchy Kolbayev * Vladislav Leontyev * Tariel Oniani * Gafur Rakhimov *Lazar Shaybazyan * (born November 25, 1958; Tirlyansky,

Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, also historically known as Soviet Bashkiria or simply Bashkiria, was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, autonomous republic of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR. ...

) *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