Social science has long sought to explain why citizens of authoritarian states do not mount mass resistance against systems that openly restrict their rights. Traditional answers reduce to either fear of repression or ideological indoctrination. Neither, however, fully accounts for the phenomenon observed in post-Soviet Russia at the turn of the twenty-first century: the relatively…
Category: Standards
Dmytro Yagunov: Crime and Social Control in Ukraine 2013-2025: Analysis of Transformation Under War Conditions
This study examines crime trends in Ukraine from 2013 to 2025, with particular focus on the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion beginning February 2022. The analysis reveals that Ukraine represents the first testing ground for studying modern warfare’s impact on a contemporary democratic state operating under European legal frameworks. Pre-war (2013-2021), Ukraine demonstrated consistent crime…
New Detention Centre with 4,000 places in the Moscow Region: Relieving Pressure on the System or Preparing for a New Wave of Repression?
In early February 2026, the Main State Expert Review Board of the Russian Federation issued a positive opinion on the project to build a 4,000-capacity pre-trial detention centre in the Solnechnogorsk urban district of the Moscow region. The customer for the construction is the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of Russia, and funding will be provided…
“No Face, No Responsibility? International Standards for Identifying Officials and the Practice of Mobilisation Detentions
In contemporary Ukrainian public discourse, the issue of actual detentions and the use of physical force by employees of territorial recruitment and social support centers (hereinafter referred to as TRC) against men in the process of mobilisation measures is increasingly being raised. As evidenced by numerous videos recorded by eyewitnesses, TRC employees systematically conceal their…
‘No Air Raid Siren Will Stop an Intimate Massage When the Time is Right’: Analysis of Police Statistics on Creation of Brothels
The data on offenses of creating or running brothels and procuring in Ukraine from 2013 to 2025 reveals significant fluctuations that reflect both law enforcement priorities and broader societal disruptions. The period reached its peak in 2014, when authorities registered 509 crimes and issued 379 notifications, representing the highest level of documented activity throughout the…
Undermining Justice Under Fire: Crimes Against Justice in War-Time Ukraine
During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, crimes against justice have predominantly receded into the shadows, presenting a paradoxical statistical landscape that masks a deeper crisis in institutional accountability. Police statistics demonstrate a dramatic volatility in registered crimes against justice, with initial precipitous declines followed by recent surges that suggest systemic dysfunction rather than genuine…
The Russian Full-Scale Invasion and Crime in Ukraine: A Wartime Analysis of Criminal Justice Dynamics (2013-2025)
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked not only a military and humanitarian catastrophe but also a critical juncture for the country’s criminal justice system. The past four years of war have had a pronounced negative impact on Ukrainian society and the criminal justice system, fundamentally altering crime patterns and revealing systemic…
Dmytro Yagunov: The Wartime Paradox: Torture Prosecution Effectiveness in Ukraine (2013-2025)
The prosecution of torture in Ukraine presents a paradoxical case study in criminal justice effectiveness. Analysis of official statistics spanning thirteen years (2013-2025) reveals fundamental shifts in investigative capacity, prosecutorial commitment, and systemic dysfunction that challenge conventional assumptions about the relationship between state resources and criminal justice outcomes. Here, we examine torture police statistics across…
Dmytro Yagunov, Rita Haverkamp: Human Trafficking and Satellite Crimes in Wartime Ukraine
More than 6.2 million refugees from Ukraine moved to Europe and other states after the Russian military aggression against Ukraine (the war) began in February 2022. Against this background, trafficking in human beings (THB) appears to be a (trans)national problem in Ukraine. In contrast to this assumption, formally declared statistics related to these crimes in…