Institutionalized military crime is flourishing in Russia amid the disintegration of the old Soviet military establishment and the faltering struggle to create Russian Armed Forces that meet even the minimum criteria of a professional force. While a shrinking number of Russian military professionals and democratic reformers are trying to build a cohesive military institution, their efforts are undermined by systemic corruption and criminality that is especially evident at the highest levels of the military and civilian leadership. Analogous problems are present in those law enforcement and security bodies that are intended to support internal order and combat crime. The current state of affairs in the Russian Armed Forces includes corrupt generals, drug and arms trafficking officers, homeless military families, illegal diversions of huge financial and material resources, spontaneous explosions of munitions depots, the abuses of Russian peacekeeping and combat forces, and burgeoning military crime that has spread well beyond Russian and regional borders. Crime in the Russian Armed Forces is a serious and growing threat to democratization, economic development, and stability throughout the region, as well as a central issue in Russia's relations with other countries. 181 notes