Corruption
Corruption in Russia is systemic -- it is the rule rather than the exception, unlike in the West or even the Orient, where incidents of corruption are commonplace but are usually fairly quickly exposed by an independent press or uncompromised law enforcement organs. While it is true that corruption stories appear constantly in the Russian press, the authorities, as a rule, do not react to them. There have been no cases in the last decade when a prime minister or even a cabinet minister resigned under public pressure because of corruption scandals, as has happened in, for example, Israel, France, Spain, Germany, South Korea, India, and Pakistan.
Transparency International, a leading corruption watchdog, published its annual report in September 2008 looking at how officials in various countries abuse their public office for private gain -- that is, by accepting bribes, demanding kickbacks, or simply embezzling funds. It found that corruption in Russia was at its worst for eight years, puttin Russia in joint 147th position with Bangladesh, Kenya, and Syria.
A senior Russian prosecutor estimated earlier in 2008 that corrupt officials were pocketing $120 billion annually, a sum equivalent to one-third of Russia's federal budget. Nikita Krichevsky, head researcher for the National Strategy Institute, cited data from the Investigative Committee in the Prosecutor-General's Office that said the annual corruption-based turnover (that is, the amount of bribes, skimming, and the like) in Russia amounted to some $480 billion. That is about one-third of Russia's gross domestic product.
Political corruption, although not the most widespread, presents the greatest danger, because it co-opts the power and mechanisms of the state. Political corruption provides cover for all the other forms, distorting government functions to cater to personal interests.
Corrupt bureaucrats in state offices not only trade access to state funds and resources, but also sell government positions. And those who buy those positions immediately begin playing the same game at their own level. Thus the system reproduces itself. This was an open secret in Russia until Medvedev, unveiling his anticorruption drive, admitted publicly that it is possible to buy government positions for money. Almost as soon as these words left his lips, the newspapers were full of stories about how almost every post in Russia -- with the exception of the five or six highest ones, are available for sale to anyone in a position to buy them. According to one report, is costs about $2 million to $5 million to buy a place on a party's list of Duma candidates and about $250,000 to introduce a bill in the legislature.
The war in the Caucasus and its foreign-policy consequences put into doubt many of the ambitious plans laid out in the early days of President Dmitry Medvedev's term of office. Prominent among these plans was his high-profile program to combat corruption. On July 31, 2008, the National Anti-Corruption Plan announced that "Despite the measures, corruption, as the inevitable consequence of excess administration by the State, still seriously hampers the normal functioning of all social mechanisms, prevents social transformation as well as improvement of the national economy, raises in Russian society serious concern and distrust to public institutions, creates a negative image of Russia in the international arena and is rightly regarded as one of the threats to security to the Russian Federation."
On 10 September 2008, "Rossiiskaya gazeta" published a presidential decree on boosting efforts against corruption, economic crime, and extremism. The essence of this decree is that the Interior Ministry would create specialized units that will work exclusively in these areas. Until now, that work had been concentrated under one roof -- in the organized-crime department. However, the branches of this department themselves had become compromised to such an extent that it was no longer possible to pretend they are not. Now, under the new decree, this department will lose most of its functions.
In his Opening Address at the Meeting of the Anti-Corruption Council on September 30, 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev said "I am once again forced to repeat a simple but no less painful thing: corruption in our country has taken on not only massive dimensions and occurs on a massive scale, it has also become commonplace and routine – something that characterizes the lives of our citizens. And as you know, it is not banal bribes – regardless of their size – that I am referring to, but rather a serious illness which affects our economy and corrupts all of society."
