Exploring the history, legends, and traditions of the criminal subculture in Russian prisons.
The continuation of the Fenya glossary covers the letters E through L — showing how inmates used coded language to describe money, power, punishment, loyalty, and betrayal inside the Russian prison system. Each term reflects fragments of criminal history and the psychology of survival behind bars.
The next section of our Russian prison slang glossary (Fenya) covers words from V to D, revealing how inmates communicate through coded terms and idioms.
From “авторитет” to “блатной” — discover the secret prison language of Russia. The first part of our Fenya glossary explains the slang, traditions, and codes used behind bars.
From a 17th-century hussar village to Moscow’s largest pretrial detention center — Butyrka has witnessed revolutions, repressions, and escapes. Its history reflects every era of Russian punishment, from Tolstoy’s visits to overcrowded 1990s cells.
A look inside the coded world of Russian prison culture — its tattoos, slang, and unwritten rules. Each symbol and phrase carries decades of history, reflecting both rebellion and hierarchy within the criminal underworld.
An overview of Russian prison tattoos with deep symbolic meaning — from the Crying Muse to devils and burning stakes. These tattoos reflect betrayal, hatred of authority, vengeance, and loyalty in the criminal world.
The story of Vasya Brilliant — a Soviet thief-in-law who spent his life behind bars, defended the thieves’ code, and became a legend of the criminal underworld.
A breakdown of classic prison tattoo symbols — from card cheats and burglars to safecrackers and repeat offenders.
A concise account of the Gulag’s internal “Bitch War”: why the criminal underworld split after WWII, how violence escalated in 1947–1953, the administration’s tactics, and what this feud changed in Soviet criminal culture.
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