Crackdown on finances of Russian politicians

RUSSIA: Top Russian politicians will have to declare their finances in full under new draft laws to fight corruption, a Kremlin official said yesterday, unveiling details of a promised crackdown by president Dmitry Medvedev.

Mr Medvedev told his anti-corruption council that he would pursue his anti-graft campaign without being distracted by the conflict with Georgia that has dominated Russian politics and damaged relations with the West.

"Some voices have been heard that after various kinds of events - for instance, such as the August conflict in the Caucasus - Russia will wind up this work and will not act," state television showed a stern Mr Medvedev telling members of the council.

The Kremlin would "on the contrary, redouble efforts" to fight corruption, he said.

Last week, watchdog Transparency International published a survey calculating that corruption in Russia was at its worst for eight years. In a table of world nations, with the cleanest at the top, Russia was ranked joint 147th with Bangladesh, Kenya and Syria.

Common examples include bribes to place children in kindergartens or prestigious schools, "cash fines" demanded by traffic police from drivers, payments by young men to avoid army conscription, and the purchase of university diplomas.

Corruption is a perennial problem in Russia and previous leaders have had little success tackling it, despite frequent pledges to do so. Mr Medvedev's predecessor, Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, oversaw unprecedented economic growth during his eight years in power but made little headway against graft.

Mr Medvedev said in July that even official jobs were very often sold, calling it an "outrageous" practice that discredited the state and held back Russia's development.

Sergei Naryshkin, chief of Mr Medvedev's staff charged with drafting anti-corruption laws, said a set of blueprints would be submitted to parliament for approval within the next two days.

"One of the proposed legal clauses obliges the head of the government, his deputies and federal ministers to declare their property, incomes and property commitments," Mr Naryshkin told Russian agencies after the anti-corruption council's meeting.

"This also refers to family members of the head of the government, his deputies and federal ministers."

- (Reuters)

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times