Is Russia A "Gangsters' Paradise"?

These days, global news is ever more dominated by Russia. Some argue that a "new Cold War" has begun; and yet other others argue that we are on the brink of something much worse than the Cold War. While the Western bloc countries accuse Russia of aggressive behaviour, the official Russian response is that the West is acting "Russophobic".

What is the reality of Russia, the biggest country in the world?

Mark Galeotti is an academic studying organized crime. He gained his expertise in Russia. 

Galeotti's article, published in the Guardian ("Gangster’s paradise: how organised crime took over Russia"), unfolds like a crime novel as one reads through it. He begins by describing his early encounters with the Russian "underworld", when he was a PhD student conducting research from late 1980s onwards, focusing over war veterans who had returned "home" from Afghanistan. In Galeotti's own words:

The 1990s were the glory days of the Russian gangsters, though, and since then, under Putin, gangsterism on the streets has given way to kleptocracy in the state.

Galeotti, in this article and in his work in general, strives to depict the personal and business connections that develop between organized crime and political circles. The picture is complex and there is no shortcut to describe the network that spawned, and that also keeps changing its outlook as well as scope.

Is Russia a gangsters' paradise ruled by organized crime bosses?

Galeotti provides his own answer in the article.

Beyond Russia itself, he also has words for the rest of the world:

The challenge posed by Russian organized crime is a formidable one — and not just at home. Across the world, it trafficks drugs and people, arms insurgents and gangsters, and peddles every type of criminal service, from money laundering to computer hacking. For all that, much of the rest of the world remains willing — indeed, often delighted — to launder these gangsters’ cash and sell them expensive penthouse apartments.