Smoke without a fatherland: who poisons Russians with counterfeit cigarettes
The underground tobacco market continues to grow in Russia, despite the active operational measures of law enforcement agencies. According to the Interior Ministry and customs services, the shadow sector includes both large-scale clandestine production within the country and smuggling from abroad. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The tobacco Underground
In early July, the police reported on the elimination of illegal production on Dubninskaya Street in Moscow. 10 people worked in the workshop, and there was also a warehouse for finished products, Irina Volk, the official representative of the Russian Interior Ministry, said on her channel. More than 2 million units of unlabeled non-smoking products were seized, as well as 200 containers with chemical reagents, machine tools and equipment. Nine employees and the alleged organizer were detained. His partner and sales manager were detained in Elektrostal. A criminal case has been opened.
— Detainees may be criminally liable under Articles 171 of the Criminal Code ("Illegal entrepreneurship"), Article 171.1 of the Criminal Code ("Turnover of unmarked goods subject to labeling"), with certain expert conclusions — under Article 238 of the Criminal Code ("Goods that do not meet safety requirements"), — says lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova.
The volume of more than 2 million units potentially pulls to a large or especially large size, which strengthens the sanctions, the expert says. Ordinary employees can be considered either as witnesses or as accomplices, depending on their role and awareness. There may be separate claims against retailers selling such goods, says Krasnova.
The tip of the iceberg
The workshop on Dubninskaya is just one episode of a large—scale problem. Similar underground workshops operate throughout the country. According to a law enforcement source, the largest illegal production facilities operate in the central and southern regions. In the Tula region, an investigation has been completed against 23 individuals in the case of a network of underground workshops that have been operating since August 2022. According to the investigation, the organizer was a local businessman together with his sons. Equipment stolen from legal tobacco factories was used for production. More than 152 thousand packs of unlabeled cigarettes, about 12 tons of tobacco raw materials and about 1.5 million counterfeit excise stamps were seized. Three defendants, including the organizer's sons, have been put on the international wanted list.
And in the suburbs of Krasnodar, a warehouse with almost 12 million packs of illegal cigarettes was discovered. The value of the seized products is estimated to exceed 1.5 billion rubles. Preventive measures have been taken against 14 people, and four more are on the federal wanted list. In the Volgograd region, two individual entrepreneurs set up a workshop in an industrial area, purchasing pressed tobacco leaves from unidentified persons. The sale was carried out through a business chat in the messenger.
"Citizens who have problems with migration legislation are employed in production, criminals may have expensive machines and entire automated lines at their disposal — the cost of such equipment, even used, is estimated in the tens and even hundreds of millions of rubles," says a police source.
The price of the workshop strongly depends on the volume of production. A machine that produces 100 packs of cigarettes per hour (five blocks) will cost 1.5–3 million rubles. A staff of three to six people is needed to maintain it. For continuous operation — twice as much.
This criminal business is so profitable that even drug traffickers set up such factories as additional assets and actively invest in them, says Sergey Pelikh, an expert on international organized crime.
In addition to the domestic production of counterfeit goods, the country suffers from the importation of counterfeit cigarettes. Supplies go through the EAEU countries, where the excise burden is significantly lower. For example, in St. Petersburg, a group of five people was detained with a batch of Armenian cigarettes without excise stamps in the amount of more than 600 thousand packs worth 85 million rubles. The transportation documents contained information about the transportation of tea and paper napkins.
The economics of the underground market
Since 2026, the minimum price of a pack of cigarettes has been set at 153 rubles. Minimum prices for cigars (814 rubles per piece) and tobacco for hookah (4427 rubles per kilogram) are being introduced.
According to the Federal Service for Alcohol and Tobacco Market Control, legal products are subject to a high excise tax rate: from 2026 — 3278 rubles per 1,000 cigarettes plus 18% of the estimated cost, but not less than 4452 rubles per 1,000 units.
At the same time, excise taxes are significantly lower in neighboring countries where smuggling flows are formed. This difference creates super profits for shadow entrepreneurs. The cost of production in underground workshops is minimal, and equipment is often purchased on the secondary market or stolen from legitimate factories.
Only the damage to trademark holders in the Tula workshops case exceeded 1 million rubles. The total cost of the seized products is estimated at many billions of rubles.
Law enforcement officials note that illegal tobacco not only damages the budget, but also poses a danger to consumers due to the lack of quality control. Sales are carried out through wholesale sites in large cities with subsequent distribution to the regions.
A marketable product
Illegally produced cigarettes and other nicotine-containing goods are sold through small wholesale markets in large cities. On the Internet, including in messengers, you can find thousands of ads for the sale of tobacco products, including those from foreign manufacturers.
"As a rule, a knowledgeable buyer comes to a market where they sell vegetables and fruits, including wholesale, and takes several blocks of cigarettes for himself or his friends at a price two to three times lower than the market price," explains a law enforcement source. — If people manage to buy drugs, then finding cheap tobacco is not a problem. But the quality of such tobacco leaves much to be desired. Smoking is dangerous in itself, but inhaling what is being sold from under the floor is three times more dangerous.
The legal side
The illegal movement of cigarettes across the border of the Russian Federation is under special state control, since the smuggling of excise goods in itself constitutes a crime, says lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova.
She also explained that if it is a question of counterfeiting cigarettes on an especially large scale, then such offenses as illegal use of someone else's trademark and conducting illegal business activities, as well as a number of other crimes, may additionally be imputed.
In addition, the editorial's interlocutor drew attention to the economic aspect of the problem: a significant part of budget revenues is generated by excise taxes, and when goods enter Russia through bypass routes, the budget suffers serious losses.
"The introduction of special stamps with data on the origin of goods, which are recorded in a single database, has significantly complicated the work of smugglers and made such schemes more difficult," says Ekaterina Krasnova.
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