Russia Faces a Growing Risk: Youth Crime, Social Networks, and Preventive Strategies
An alarming forecast in Moscow and the Moscow region points to a potential social crisis driven by the decline in the age of street crime. Alexander Khaminsky, head of the Center for Law and Order in Moscow and the Moscow Region, shared his assessment in an interview with FAN. He explained that police raids in large cities are aimed at curbing youth groups whose members engage in hooliganism in public spaces. The core challenge, he argued, is that online platforms and social networks accelerate the rise of youth movements, including criminal circles, more quickly than information can reach law enforcement agencies.
“A generation ago, district police could recognize many troubled youths just by sight. Information about them often reached the police through children’s rooms in the local precincts, and preventive conversations with both the youngsters and their parents were possible,” Khaminsky noted. “Today, members of the same groups can live on opposite sides of the city, and preventing them would require the involvement of district commissioners from dozens of districts.”
In his view, the path forward demands sustained effort to stop a “lost generation” from taking shape. He warned that issues won’t be solved in a single step or through one campaign, but rather through continuous, coordinated action across communities and law enforcement.
Earlier, law enforcement agencies conducted raids at the Aviapark shopping center in Moscow and at several other sites. They detained individuals identified as representatives of the PMC Redan movement, which had clashed in the food court and elsewhere in the capital’s shopping centers in the days prior. Similar disturbances subsequently appeared in other major cities. More details were provided in coverage by Newspapers.Ru.