In 1993, Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, who was a key figure in breaking up the USSR and who served as Russian president from 1991 to 1999, said that “Corruption in the organs of power and administration is literally eating away the body of the Russian state from top to bottom, according to John Kramer writing for the Eurasia Center.
Over the weekend, protests were held to focus on corruption charges against Prime Minister Demetri Medvedev, who is said, according to the BBC, to possess mansions, yachts and properties that he couldn’t be expected to afford on his salary. It is alleged that Mr Medvedev even “had a special house for a duck on one of his properties – and on Sunday, some demonstrators held up images of yellow rubber ducks.” Mr Medvedev’s spokeswoman called the allegations against him “propagandistic attacks”.
Americans may particularly remember Mr. Medvedev as the recipient of Mr. Obama’s infamous “whisper” at a conference in which the former president promised to weaken U.S. ABM defenses after his re-election.
Bloomberg news notes that the independent Ekho Moskvy radio station reported that “60,000 people participated in 82 protests around the country. The number of detentions in Moscow — and the heavy presence of riot police — was the highest seen “since demonstrations erupted in winter 2011 and spring 2012 against alleged vote-rigging in parliamentary elections and Putin’s return to the presidency for a third term. Putin, 64, is likely to seek a further six years as president in elections next March, though he hasn’t officially said he’ll run.”
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Although Russian state television and pro-Putin publications completely ignored the protests on Sunday, The U.S. and the European Union condemned the Kremlin’s handling of the events. The U.S. State Department issued a statement strongly condemning the arrest of the protesters, noting that “Detaining peaceful protesters, human rights observers, and journalists is an affront to core democratic values. We were troubled to hear of the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny upon arrival at the demonstration, as well as the police raids on the anti-corruption organization he heads.” According to the Russian semi-official news source RT, the Kremlin “rejected calls by foreign countries and organizations, particularly the US and the Council of Europe, to release protesters detained on Sunday.”
The Institute of Modern Russia reported in 2013 that “Transparency International has ranked Russia 133rd in its recently-published 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index…According to economist Alexandra Kalinina…corruption in Russia remains ‘not a problem, but a business.’… Corruption has penetrated all levels of government and most other aspects of life in Russia. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, corruption in Russia is worse than in many African countries…According to Sergei Ivanov, the Kremlin chief of staff, the most corrupt spheres in Russia (in terms of household corruption) are healthcare, education, housing and communal services. In comparison, independent experts from RBC magazine name law-enforcement agencies (including the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate) as the most corrupt sphere in Russia, which is followed by healthcare, education, housing and communal services, and social security services.At the government level, however, the five top areas for corruption are.. Government contracts and purchases, Issuance of permits and certificates, Law-enforcement agencies Land distribution and land relations, [and] Construction.”
Kramer’s Eurasian Center analysis sounds similar to complaints of those in the United States who point to big government as a corrupting factor: “an analysis of political corruption in both the USSR and post-communist Russia reveals that in each state it exhibits strikingly similar (albeit not identical) characteristics, including: (1) manifold opportunities for corruption arising from the massive role of the state in regulating societal life…The distinctive hybrid character of political corruption in Russia today derives precisely from its roots in both the communist and post-communist periods.”