Motorcycle Gangs as Political Players: The Case of the Russian Night Wolves

• In Event: Research Network on Biker Crime: Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Friends, Foes or Folk Devils?

Abstract

Russia’s biggest motorcycle club, The Night Wolves, was founded by rock music fans and motorcycle enthusiasts during the glasnost period in 1989. The group initially had an anti-establishment spirit and used to hold informal rock concerts that were prohibited by the regime. After President Vladimir Putin took office in 2000, the club acquired a strong political identity. Its members expressed allegiance to the Putin administration, embraced (or perhaps even embodied) Russia’s new wave of ultranationalism, and evinced a deep respect of and support to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Since 2014, the involvement of The Night Wolves in Ukraine’s conflict, both in Donbas and the Crimean peninsula, has raised concerns related to the connections between the motorcycle club and the Russian special services. In particular, the US and Canadian governments announced sanctions against several members of The Night Wolves due to the direct and indirect support they allegedly provided to the pro-Russian rebels.
This paper tracks the development of bikers’ identity in Russia, explores the nature of the relationship between the motorcycle club and the Kremlin, and evaluates the niche The Night Wolves have occupied in Putin’s sistema—a system of governance grounded on informal mechanisms of power distribution and personalized loyalties that Russian leaders have used to mobilize domestic and foreign support. In addition, The Night Wolves are compared with other motorcycle clubs in Russia and abroad (mainly in the US and Canada). Finally, the paper evaluates the efficacy of international sanctions as used by western governments to limit the illegitimate activities of The Night Wolves in Ukraine.
This paper is expected to shed light on distinctive facets of The Night Wolves that make this organization interesting both from the socio-political and criminological perspectives. The paper also contributes to the study of the transformation of bikers’ communities in Russian since the last decade of the Soviet Union—the theme that has hardly received any coverage in the English-language scholarship. Finally, the focus of this paper on The Night Wolves’ involvement in Ukraine will emphasize the growing predominance of Russia’s foreign policy implementation by non-institutional actors and via informal, both legitimate and illegitimate, means.

Author

• Yuliya Zabyelina, John Jay College of Criminal Justice