Brothers' Circle

The Brothers' Circle or Bratski Krug (Russian: Братский круг) Is loose translation of Russian term "Bratva" (Russian: Братва), which doesn’t have a precise English translation, but can be loosely translated as “brotherhood”, “brother’s circle” or “band of brothers". The term "bratva" received its wide dissemination in the 1990-s after collapse of the Soviet Union, and was used as an informal address among the members of many gangs which spread throughout all post-soviet republics. Today the term is used as an informal way of address among close friends. It’s likely this form of address and lack of proper interpretation resulted in its name being used in connection to Russian organized crime.

U.S. Department for Treasury officials suggest that it operates in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the United States,[1] and has allegedly been controlled by Vladislav Leontyev, a Russian man from Nizhny Novgorod.[2] In 2011 the group was named by the Obama administration of the United States in the "Strategy on Combating Transnational Organized Crime",[3] defining them as "A multiethnic criminal group composed of leaders and senior members of several criminal organizations largely based in countries of Europe. Many Brothers' Circle's members share a common ideology based on the thief in law tradition, which seeks to spread their brand of criminal influence around the world."[4]