Hope this helps:
In Moscow an estimated fifty cars were stolen per day, with the
estimated yearly total for Russia between 100,000 and 150,000. In the
first quarter of 1994, Russia averaged eighty-four murders a day. Many
of those crimes were contract killings attributed to criminal
organizations.
http://www.1upinfo.com/country-guide-study/russia/russia210.html
Besides drug trafficking, the Russian and Ukrainian mafias are
specialising now in the stolen car trade. Cars are transported via
Poland to Russia and other former Soviet Republics like Hungary and
Romania, where co-operation between the Rumanian law offenders and the
Italian, German, Polish and Bulgarian networks is particularly
obvious. The problem with stolen cars in Russia is that they are
usually stolen again, this time from the new owners to be sold further
to Republics of Central Asia or the Caucasus. Often cars are stolen
"on order" and, if the buyer is in a hurry, it may be even brought in
by air. In this case, the main air transportation centre until
recently was Poland. Virtually all Russian dealers insist on receiving
already renovated cars from abroad. In case of stolen cars, the
renovation takes place in Poland, the Baltic Republics and, on rarer
occasions, in the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Hungary.
http://www.jus.unitn.it/transcrime/papers/wp7.html
RUSSIA: It has been estimated that 1.5 million stolen cars are being
driven around Russia. High value prestigious marques make their way to
the country after being stolen to order in Western Europe. To
facilitate the trade, Customs officials are bribed and a new set of
documents for the car are obtained from ‘helpful’ police officials.
The cars are registered in the name of a dead person or someone who is
homeless and then sold on. Oleg Yelnikov, from the Russian Ministry of
Interior’s Organized Crime Directorate highlighted the problem when he
was quoted in “The Observer” (UK): “From one side the former foreign
owner has received his insurance payout and does not want the car
back. We can’t punish the Russian buyer because the majority buy a car
that seems registered
legitimately to someone – be they homeless or fictitious. We can
punish the road police – dozens were sacked in 1999 and 2000 – but
after all of this, who is going to pay to take the car back to the
owner?” The problem is particularly rife in Germany, where it is
estimated that 30,000 cars each year are stolen. As ultimately
insurance premiums go up as a direct result of this trade, one expert
has commented that the ironic situation exists that German motorists
are paying for criminals in Russia to drive better cars than them!
http://www.proximalconsulting.com/NewslettersPDF/newsletter18.pdf
Between 1993-1998 the Russian car ownership rate grew to 110 vehicles
per 1,000 inhabitants, almost double the 1993 rate of 59 cars per
1,000 people. Moscow, St. Petersburg and several other large Russian
cities account for the highest growth rate. This is the basic market
factor causing the increasing demand in new service facilities.
Additionally, the majority of existing stations require serious
modernization. Although the Russian financial crisis has seriously
affected the purchasing power of Russian people, the car ownership
rate continues to grow, since dollar prices for domestic cars have
fallen twice since the summer of 1998. Currently, the number of cars
in St. Petersburg is estimated at nearly 600,000 vehicles.
Opportunities also exist for fuel truck and fuel terminal and service
station equipment suppliers. Local service station operators contacted
the post with inquiries regarding U.S. suppliers of gasoline dispenser
pumps. St.Petersburg Fuel Company (PTK) authorities indicated that
they were planning to attract investments amounting to USD 100 million
in modernization of two major city oil terminals and a network of
service stations. Since domestic prices for gasoline are not
significantly higher than in the U.S., and the number of cars in
Russia continues to grow, the industry was relatively mildly affected
by the August crisis. Major oil firms' intentions to build new service
stations demonstrate the favorable nature of this market.
http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/990609gas.htm
Russian License Plates:
http://www.geocities.com/avtonomer/index_eng.html |
