Stop demonizing the Russians.
Hollywood loves to beat on the Russians. XXX, Eastern Promises, Training Day, John Wick, The Equalizer, and many other films feature Russian mercenaries or mobsters as villains. If you count other peoples from Eastern Europe, you can add Taken, The Dark Knight, Lord of War, and The Drop, and the series Banshee to that list.
The U.S. government loves to beat on them too. Lots of shady stuff going on with NGOs like Freedom House and such encouraging color coded revolutions. I don't defend Putin at all, mind you, or what has happened in Georgia, Crimea, and the Donbas. However, if Russia is a snake, then the U.S. government has done everything it can to provoke it into striking. The British government has sheltered several high profile oligarchs after they have fallen out of favor in Russia. Two of the more notorious ones owned Chelsea FC. Do you really think that these people are any less ruthless than Putin in kind, if not degree?
I think we have a disconnect between fantasy and reality here. Russian mobsters exist, and they can be nasty. However, they commit crimes that are a drop in the bucket compared to what America's own citizens do. I want every person who reads this article to look at the FBI's most wanted list. Then check the US Marshalls List for each state. Check your local Sheriff's office. Those lists are packed with lots of Blacks, a good number of Hispanics, a few Asians, and very many native born, white Americans. I guarantee that you will find very few Russians. Simeon Mogilevich, a crooked financier, is the only one who comes to mind as a wanted Russian fugitive in the FBI list. I recently found one Ukrainian woman on the NJ State Police most wanted list. She is there for kidnapping her own daughter, which I assume is related to a custody dispute or some other relationship BS. I haven't seen anyone else from anywhere in Eastern Europe on one of the federal lists for a very long time.
Why is this? Because Russians, statistically speaking, do not cause much crime in America. Native-born Whites, American Blacks, and Hispanics of various origin cause almost all (99.99%) crime in America. I would venture to say that Eastern European immigrants are some of the most law abiding and hardest working of all Americans.
Call me racist or nationalist or whatever, but I swear to god that I am telling it as it is. Look in the mirror first before you condemn a group of people for their leadership or for the spaces of a few.