Contemporary Issues of Moscow

Crime in Moscow increased enormously during the early and mid-1990s, due in part to the rise of organized criminal groups.

Drug trafficking is a growing concern, as Moscow is used increasingly as a gateway for illegal drugs being smuggled from Central Asia to Europe; in 1996 approximately 5 percent of the city’s reported crimes were drug related.

In an attempt to address the problem of crime in Moscow, the national government added Interior Ministry troops to the municipal police force to help patrol the city’s streets.

Traffic congestion has worsened in Moscow as the market economy has allowed many more Muscovites to own automobiles, at a rate that has outpaced driver training, traffic enforcement, and modernization of roads.

Moscow’s environment has long suffered from industrial pollution; however, about 60 percent of the city’s air pollution now comes from automobiles.

Radioactive waste sites, unauthorized trash dumps, and deforestation of the Green Belt that surrounds the city are being addressed by federal and local agencies, but results are slow because of limited financial resources.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, economic difficulties left Moscow’s infrastructure without needed funds for operation and maintenance.

Public transportation and other services had been heavily subsidized during the Soviet period, and when the subsidies were eliminated, city officials found that the taxes and fares being collected from residents were insufficient.

In recent years, transit fares in Moscow have increased dramatically.