Transnistria

Moldova's underrecognized breakaway territory of Transnistria has long been described by journalists, researchers, politicians and diplomats as a quasistate whose economy is dependent on contraband^[5] and gunrunning.^[6][7][8]

For instance, in 2002 Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin called Transnistria a "residence of international mafia", "smuggling stronghold" and "outpost of Islamic combatants". The allegations were followed by attempts of customs blockade. Reacting to the allegations,Russian state-run RTR aired an investigative program revealing that Transnistrian firms were conducting industrial-level manufacturing of small arms purposely for subsequent illegal trafficking via Ukrainian port of Odessa. According to the program, the trade was controlled by and benefited from Transnistria's founder and then-ruler Igor Smirnov.^[9]

However, more recent investigations and monitoring missions did not prove continuity inarms trafficking concerns. According to regular reports of the European Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), there have been no signs of significant weapons smuggling from Transnistria.^{[citation needed]} In 2013, Ukrainian Foreign Minister and Acting Chairman of the OSCE Leonid Kozhara gave an interview to El País newspaper, commenting on situation in Transnistria and results of work of the EUBAM mission. According to Kozhara, there have been no cases of arms traffic found.^[10]

Some experts from Russia and Transnistria state that allegations of Transnistria being 'mafia state', 'black hole of Europe', 'heaven for arms trafficking', etc. is a carefully planned defamation campaign paid by Moldovan government and aimed at producing negative image of Transnistria.^{[11][better source needed]}

Russia

The term has been used by some Western media to describe the political system in Russiaunder Vladimir Putin's rule.^[13][14][15] This characterization came to prominence following theUnited States diplomatic cables leak, which revealed that US diplomats viewed Russia as a "a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a 'virtual mafiastate.'"^[16][17] Journalist and author Luke Harding argues that Putin has "created a state peopled by ex-KGB and FSB officers, like himself, [who are] bent on making money above all."^[18] In the estimation of American diplomats, "the government [of Russia] effectively [is] the mafia."^[19][20][21]

According to the New Statesman, "the term had entered the lexicon of expert discussion" several years before the cables leak, "and not as a frivolous metaphor. Those most familiar with the country had come to see it as a kleptocracy with Vladimir Putin in the role of capo di tutti capi, dividing the spoils and preventing turf wars between rival clans of an essentially criminal elite."^[22] In 2008, Stephen Blank noted that Russia under Putin is "a state that European officials privately call a Mafia state" that "naturally gravitates toward Mafia-like behavior."^[23]

Nikolay Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said "it's pretty hard to damage the Russian image in the world because it's already not very good".^[24]

London's Mayor Boris Johnson, writing in 2013 for The Telegraph, pointed to "a scam, a gigantic criminal conspiracy by which the Russian police and tax officials colluded with the judiciary and mafia to steal millions from the Russian state", referring to the murder and subsequent trial of a Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.^[25]