"The Criminal Insurance Agency"
or "Gang Protection Service"
or "The KGB"
----------

In The West the Intelligence Services do plenty of background checks on new recruits to make sure that the recruit isn't a criminal or otherwise a bad actor. It is not so much the same in the former Soviet Union. The USSR/CCCP was eager to hire criminals into their ranks as those kind of folks have no scruples that would get in the way of getting a job done. And the KGB protected its people. If an agent was found out to have done something less than wholesome the KGB would protect their own. In the West, people would be dismissed for having criminal tendencies, however in Russia being able to commit crime and get away with it was an institutional thing. The Soviet Union hired criminals and they prospered. You can think of this as a "criminal insurance agency," where if something really bad happened there would just be a switch-er-oo of the employee in one position to another, just reshuffling the deck so to speak. Gangs were protected in Russia as the ultimate gang was the Soviet government itself. Russia protected their own, and indeed to this very day they protect their own. If you're a criminal working in Russia and affiliated with their various security services you have a "gang protection service" on your side. Instead of putting people in jail for their mis-deeds, they are hired by the FSB/SVR/GRU and put to use to better the lot of the Russian state.

There are two views of this practice, one is that it's immoral and criminals should be punished for their actions, while the other perspective is that it keeps people out of jail to lesson their burden of the cost of incarceration and to use people who would otherwise be locked in a cell to better the lot of their country. Both views have their virtues. If I was Putin I would be doing similar things as he is doing so that its a win-win for his nation, his population, and Russia's overall financial and political situation. Why put a bad actor in a box when you can put them to work to better the lot of their nation. And if you're a criminal how useful it is to get a state-sponsored security blanket otherwise known as the FSB/SVR/GRU. This "Gang Protection Service" ensures that if you are a criminal and you get caught for doing your misdeeds that you still have hope, in working with the Intelligence apparatus.

Just imagine how useful a "Criminal Insurance Agency" would be both for the criminal and for their country. No cost of jailing people, criminals getting a second chance, and the State getting the expertise of the criminals; making for a close relationship between law-breakers, the law-makers, and those above the law. Its really a strategically smart move for the State and the criminals. After the Cold War was over, or at least was semi-officially over, the analysis of the situation at the end of it was that the KGB security service did a better job than the American Intelligence Community (IC). This is because the KGB was more flexible in playing dirty, while the CIA had morals to follow...

"The Criminal Insurance Agency"
or "Gang Protection Service"
or "The KGB"

Whatever the name of the game, the idea of a protection service for criminals is very enticing to those on the wrong side of the law. Living in Russia would allow criminals to take benefit from that legal situation and is a great time for those who just don' give a damn. Perfect material for the former KGB... and useful to modern post-Soviet Intelligence. A win-win for sure...

Now I'm not promoting crime here, I'm simply stating the actual situation of those who find themselves being criminals in Russia, and how that can be comfy, both for the criminals and the State in which they reside.

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

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