ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses Russia and Ukraine societies in transition, their situations contrast sharply with many of the countries. Without controls, the Ukrainian privatization process has also been hijacked by a political-criminal coalition. The analysis of the political-criminal nexus of the Soviet period requires application of the tools of the historical method. The relationships between the political and economic elites and crime groups have deep roots in Soviet society. The political-criminal nexus permitted both the officials and the criminal world to acquire the privatizing property. Privatization has allowed for the enrichment of the nomenklatura of the Soviet era who have moved from being directors of enterprises to owners of enterprises they once controlled. The political-criminal nexus is strongest in the banking sector in both Russia and Ukraine. The political-criminal nexus is affecting foreign investment. The institutional capacity to address the political-criminal nexus in Ukraine is limited.
