Dark Site

© Skaganga - Image from the Dark Site photography project

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Anna and Ilya. They both served a suspended sentence for drug possession. "We met in private rehabilitation. If you register with a state drug dispensary, you may be deprived of parental rights and you would not receive a car license. Therefore, in Russia, rehabilitation is a gray business. Many companies try to make money on drug users, while their methods of treatment drug addiction is in the Middle Ages. People are beaten, imprisoned, not provided with psychological assistance. I was lucky that my parents had money for good doctors." Anya

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After Russia's attack on Ukraine, Hydra ceased to function - a trading platform that owns a monopoly in the territory of the post-Soviet space. The Hydra servers were arrested and confiscated by the German police. In its place, new trading platforms have appeared, waging war for sellers and buyers.

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Ivan (fictional name) I am a policeman. If you catch a bundleman or a drug addict, then it will take at least 2-3 hours to complete the protocol. But, by and large, the detainee is either a pawn in the world of drug trafficking, or a consumer. That is, the contribution to public safety is minimal. We have so few employees, and yet there is theft and violent crime. In general, I don't like doing this. Although there is a certain excitement from this game of cat and mouse. Drugs must be fought on a different level.

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Vlad (fictional name) "It was a cop's setup. A friend invited me to a party at his house and asked for help with weed. We met and I was detained. I am an 18 year old guy who was given three years in prison. Now I work in a cultural institution in a good position, but I hide my story to the general public. My boss knows I have a criminal record, but the world doesn't! In our country, this can cause serious reputational damage. In Russia, drug use is highly stigmatized, people are afraid to even say the word drugs, and they consider drug addicts to be second-rate people. I hate to hide this fact of my biography. It's like an inner ugliness that not everyone can accept. I have developed adaptation mechanisms that help me, but of course I would like to talk about it openly."

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The digitalization of drug purchases has primarily affected the younger generation. Buying drugs has become as easy as shopping online. This creates an illusion of normality, blurs the real risks, and forms a careless attitude towards drugs. Together with harsh legislation, this generates a huge number of new prisoners. In Russia, drug-related legislature is called the people's statute. Sixty-four percent of the convicts are people between the ages of 18 and 34. Seventy-nine percent of all sentences fall on the statute - the acquisition and storage without the intent to sell.

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Sergei I used drugs like a madman, lived in a den. But when the police started hunting for me, I’ve decided to quit: either jail or withdrawal. It turned out that finding a decent rehabilitation centre is a no easy task. In Russia, one cannot openly voice one’s drug problems without some kind of infringement of rights. Because of that rehabilitation is a shadow business without any guarantees. I was lucky to end up at a Protestant centre. After a couple of years, I was able to reintegrate into society with no fear of a relapse. Now I have a wife, a job and an apartment. I’m incredibly lucky! With that in mind, I try to volunteer for and support people suffering from drug abuse.

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Valera (fictional name) “At the time, I just moved to St. Petersburg, I was making money by streaming. To maintain tone and relaxedness, I started using amphetamine and mephedrone! One evening I went to pick up the bundle and was caught by the police. They took me to the police station, offered to resolve this issue, but I had no money. As a result, the judge gave me two years of probation. I returned to my hometown to my parents. They did not talk to me on this topic, I tried to go to a psychotherapist, but he treated me with contempt. I started using drugs again! But in one moment, I met a girl and fell in love with her. Now we live in St. Petersburg, and I don't use drugs. I have a job, but before finding it, I was rejected several times due to a criminal record."

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Sveta I am forty-nine, and I have cancer. That’s the reason why we can speak here, freely. In prison, time moves slowly, a month feels like a year. The realization that this is the worst place on Earth comes quickly. A couple of months was enough for me to atone for my mistakes, but I did several years. People are sentenced for enormous time for crimes unrelated to violence and I cannot understand why.

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Big stores have a lot of staff. The administrator and operators communicate with customers, respond to reviews and resolve conflicts in case of poor quality of goods or not finding the bundle. There is a staff of couriers who hide bundles in the city. Chemists and growers brew synthetic drugs and grow cannabis. Drivers transport master bundles - large quantities of drugs.

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After buying drugs on the darknet, the buyer goes to collect the bundle. The store sends you the coordinates and a few photos of the place where the bundle lies. Bundle hunting is dangerous. The police are looking for people who seek something or walk around the same place for a long time. They may search you or ask you to show hands in case you tried to dig up your bundle.

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Sergei (fictional name) When I ended up in prison, it quickly became obvious, that if I am not to take extraordinary measures, I will be dead! I offered the administration to work as a secretary. I’ve prepared reports, wrote dissertations, consulted the higher ups on legal matters. I’ve made it through, and when my time was up, I was free. As I see it, most of the inmates did time for drug possession. It’s unlikely, that they will be able to return to normal life after such an experience. Our government is only good for beating and maiming.

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Tons of psychoactive substances are sold and bought in the darknet stores. Bundles of drugs worth $3 million are delivered every day in post-Soviet cities. Daily, buyers initiate an average of 137,000 transactions. All transactions take place in bitcoins, which are subsequently laundered through the so-called mixers. A dark parallel world invisible to the naked eye, but influencing the behavior and destinies of people and changing the urban space. A new layer of thousands of hidden bundles appears on the surface of the city.

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Camila “The police detained me in the courtyard when I wanted to smoke a joint with my friend. I was convicted of drug possession. Now this is a stigma on my life, I am often denied a job due to a criminal record. According to the logic of the government, smoking a joint is a serious crime. Now I work as a bartender at an informal job.”

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Vasiliy "I've been on the darknet for over a decade. Buying drugs there wasn't so mainstream before. Now this is not a cyber-nerd forum, but a full-fledged, convenient marketplace. I saw the vacancy of a bundler, and thought: why not try it? It was safe then, the police did not know about this way of distributing drugs. I took a master bundle of 100-200 grams of amphetamine, packed it into 1-gram doses and made bundles. I gave up on my studies, easy money quickly corrupts. I did not experience a moral dilemma. I'd rather made money on this than anyone else does. This is business. I did not fully realize my risks, naturally I thought that I would not get caught. Everything ended, as it should be - detention. I was lucky that while the trial was going on, the Federal Drug Control Service was being reformed. The officers who detained me did not come to court. And I received a suspended sentence for storage. Now the main problem is that because of my criminal record I can't find a decent job."

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The Russian police cannot adequately respond to new challenges of the digital age. The police either don't want to deal with shopkeepers on the dark web, or they don't have the tools. Basically, they accidentally catch bundlers and drug users. Bundlers are pawns in this game, but it is them who get huge sentences as drug dealers. Possession of drugs is also criminalized. Even for possession of a small amount of drugs, a person can get a prison sentence of up to 10 years. And the drug-related crimes themselves are considered by the legal system as a serious offence, so after serving a sentence, it is difficult for people to find a job.

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Drugs are distributed in "bundles" - a small amount of drugs tightly wrapped in duct tape. Store courier, called "bundler", hides bundles in the urban environment. The courier attaches bundles to fences, downpipes, and electrical panels with magnets. Sometimes bundles are buried in parks and cemeteries, sometimes drugs are hidden in the entrances of high-rise buildings. The profession of a bundler is considered well paid by Russian standards, but they are usually quickly caught by the police.

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A smartphone is a door and a key at the same time. For consumers, it is a tool for buying and searching for drugs. But smartphone is also a bundler's tool - a person who hides drugs throughout the city. This is a technological revolution of the process of buying and selling drugs. Today you do not need to know the dealer personally and meet them. The anonymity of the drug acquisition process has attracted new users from all walks of life.

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Sasha I was 19 years old. Our company was united by the spark that we produced artificially. We stuck around. It all started at school. My friend has been exploring the darknet since he was 13 years old. We smoked hashish in the 8th grade, and in the 10th-11th we were already sitting tightly on mephedrone. We are not children from the ghetto, we studied in ordinary schools. Pasha died first. Another friend of mine, Danya, started working as a bundleman at the age of 15. Who will suspect a minor? The first 3 years he was in the safe zone, but when he turned 18 he was caught by the police. We were together, I was given an administrative fine for drug use. Danya got jailed for 5 years for distribution. Danya, together with his girlfriend Masha, framed our other friend Lyova. Lyova is Masha's ex-boyfriend, perhaps it was her revenge for the breakup. As a result, two guys are now in prison, and recently it turned out that Masha is also under investigation. In the end, only I am free.

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Stas (fictional name) They’ve taken me with a gram of hash on my hands, while I was hitchhiking in Russia. It was enough to sentence me for a year of probation. Because drug possession is considered to be a felony, I am prohibited to work with children. Although I have a degree in Education and Child Psychology. I sincerely love my work. But because of a wrongdoing, I’ve conducted when I was eighteen years old, I have to work on semi-legal basis. I have a stigma! I’ve tried to dispute this in court, but it was unsuccessful.

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Most of the drugs are sold through the darknet and are hidden in the form of “bundles” in secluded places in cities. Using the Tor browser, buyer enters the darknet. There are large marketplaces somewhat resembling Amazon. The user can purchase a huge selection of substances from competing stores. After the transaction, the buyer receives the coordinates of the place where the bundle is hidden and its photographs.

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