'I was the best-known barika in town': The life story of a female heroin dealer in post-Soviet Georgia.

This article focuses on the life story of Milena, a 60-year-old former heroin dealer from post-Soviet Georgia, whose narrative illustrates the complex interplay between individual agency, gender norms, and the socio-political upheavals following the USSR’s collapse. Milena’s trajectory is exceptional in that, as an independent female drug dealer and former wife of a “thief in law” (kurdebi, a post-Soviet mafia leader), she significantly deviated from traditional Georgian gender roles and criminal brotherhood norms. Her story reflects how the political crises and economic collapse of Georgia created both opportunities and constraints, shaping her criminal career amid shifting legal and moral frameworks. The article highlights the tension between Milena’s personal choices and collective patterns, emphasizing intersecting temporalities of political history and individual biography in understanding women’s roles in organized crime within post-Soviet contexts.