The Economist captures well some of Russia’s corruption troubles in this article. The article talks about experiences of a Russian enterpreneur with overcoming bureaucratic hurdles and getting things done. It references recent polls, which show that Russian citizens fear government officials and police more than criminals. But, as ‘Ivan the entrepreneur’ says, things are not hopeless.
Crooked officials may be as old as Russian literature, but he sees today’s rampant corruption as a specifically post-Soviet illness. The Soviet regime bred nihilism among government officials but, he says, the fear that once restrained the worst of it has gone. Pen pushers with small government salaries shamelessly “go to the Canary Islands” on expensive holidays. Yet that mentality will eventually die out as a new generation of people go into business, Ivan believes. He himself regards the methods he is obliged to use with a sort of wry disgust.
INDEM’s Satarov thinks Russia needs 100 years to reduce corruption levels to those of Sweeden. And another interesting fact:
As for prosecution, 3,600 verdicts have been passed on corruption cases and only 507 of them entailed a prison term, INDEM reports. Experts of the foundation therefore concluded that only 1 out of 100,000 corrupt officials go to prison, and chances to fine oneself behind the bards for a bribe taker is 0.0013 percent in Russia.
Published Date: November 03, 2006