An Offer You Can't Refuse: Private Security and State Protection in Post-Soviet Russia

It is typically the responsibility of governments to safeguard the rights, property, and physical safety of its citizens. However, in Russia, as in many other countries, private organizations exist which operate as profitable businesses by offering these same protections to paying clients. Such organizations generally exist in a niche created by a government's inability or unwillingness to provide such protections and to monopolize the provision of them. Yeltsin's reforms in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse often left small businesses unprotected, leading to a rapid growth in the private security industry. However, as the central government strengthened and the economy improved under Putin, the industry continued to grow at a rapid pace thanks to adaptation by the private security industry to changes in demand for protection as well as cooption methods utilized by the state security structures