2026/01/01 by Emily Elisabeth Hoge
Social Sciences · #Disability Rights and Representation #Gender, Security, and Conflict #Elder Abuse and Neglect
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/slr.2026.10387
Abstract This article examines the Russian Fund for Invalids of the War in Afghanistan (RFIVA), a post-Soviet disability organization whose disabled veteran members became involved in organized crime after the collapse of the Soviet Union, ultimately culminating in the 1996 Kotliakovskoe Cemetery bombing. When the Soviet state vanished, disabled people felt the effects of its absence most harshly. But disabled veterans of the Soviet-Afghan War, who had constructed a shared identity around violent disabled masculinity, found both solidarity and profit in the sale of violence in the hyper-capitalist, neoliberal Russia. During Russia’s transition to a market economy, a small part of the Afghan veteran’s movement formed into criminal and semi-criminal organizations, including the Russian Fund for Invalids of the Afghan War (RFIVA). The organization eventually splintered over disagreements regarding its obligations to provide care for disabled veterans: a reflection of broader questions over the relationship of disabled veterans to Russian society.