Caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping enter the hall during a signing ceremony on May 20, 2026, in Beijing, China. (Getty Images)
Caption
Members of the Spanish Guardia Civil during a raid targeting the Russian mafia in the southern resort of Marbella, September 26, 2017 (JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)
The 2018 U.S. National Security Strategy warns that transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) “weaken our allies and partners [by] corrupting and undermining democratic institutions” and that “some state adversaries use TCOs as instruments of national power.”
No authoritarian regime has exported corruption and criminality with greater impact than Vladimir Putin’s “mafia state.” TCOs linked to senior Russian political and business figures have reportedly engaged in money laundering, theft, bribery, and a multitude of other crimes across Europe.
In February, prosecutors in Madrid opened a major trial against alleged members of the Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya gang, accusing them of money laundering and the “creation of a criminal community in Spain.” Based on more than a decade of investigations, the trial provides unprecedented insights into the Kremlin’s export of corruption through Russian TCOs.
On May 25, Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative welcomed Spain’s Judge José Grinda Gonzalez, and U.S. experts for a discussion about investigating and prosecuting Russian organized crime, defending democracy and the rule of law, and pushing back against the Kremlin’s kleptocratic encroachment.
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A nuclear missile formation attends a military parade in Beijing, China, on September 3, 2025. (Getty Images)
