MOSCOW, January 16 (Itar-Tass) – The Russian Investigative Committee (SK), in the view of Russians, is most successful in fighting corruption among the country’s law enforcement agencies, according to the results of an opinion poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) conducted of the eve of the 2nd anniversary of the Investigative Committee.
VCIOM is the oldest and the leading marketing and opinion research company in the post-Soviet space. It provides the data, analysis and recommendations to the clients. VCIOM conducts the full cycle research - from instrument design and data collection to analysis and presentation of results to the clients, in Russia and abroad in the following fields: politics (electoral and approval ratings, protest activity, etc…); social education, employment, health care, family, corruption, etc…); business (finance and insurance, real estate and construction, trademarks, branding and reputation management, IT, media research, sports industry, automobile market, etc…).
According to the survey, 25 percent said the SK is the most successful law enforcement agency in the fight against corruption. The Federal Security Service (FSB) is second (24 percent of those polled), then - the Prosecutor’s Office (19 percent). The police have the lowest rating. More than a third of the respondents failed to name a single state structure, which, in their opinion, most successfully fights corruption.
At the same time, the level of confidence in the SK is growing. A year ago, only 17 percent of Russians regarded it as one of the most successful agencies in combating corruption.
In terms of the agencies’ fulfilling their tasks, Russians placed the Investigative Committee on the third place among law enforcement and security agencies- 42 percent of those polled consider its work effective. In this rating the Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) and the FSB took the first two places- 71 percent and 48 percent of respondents, respectively, believe that they work effectively. And the number of Russian citizens who consider the SK work effective has increased by 6 percent in a year.
According to the opinion poll, the main SK spokesman in charge of media relations, Vladimir Markin, is best known among representatives of law enforcement agencies. As many as 60 percent of respondents know him, while no more than a third of Russians know his colleagues from other departments by sight.
The survey also showed the growing awareness of the population of the SK activities. If in 2010 only about 44 percent of Russians knew about it, then now two-thirds of the respondents (67 percent) know about it.
The SK won renown primarily by the investigation of the cases of the Lame Horse nightclub fire in Perm, the loss of life in flooding in Krymsk, the Bulgaria ship disaster, the terrorist attacks in the Moscow metro and at Domodedovo airport, the cases of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and Yuri Budanov, the investigation of mass disorders in Bolotnaya Square and the Kushchevskaya gang case.
At the same time, the investigation of the cases, in which the opposition members are brought to criminal responsibility, are more supported than mistrusted by the citizens. For instance, 36 percent of those polled support and only 19 percent do not support the actions of the Investigative Committee in connection with the criminal case against Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhayev and other opposition members over the preparation of mass riots. The investigation of the mass disorders in Bolotnaya Square is approved by 34 percent and disapproved by 25 percent of those polled. About 20 percent of Russians said that they have not heard anything about these cases.
The survey was conducted in December 2012 in 146 populated localities in 38 regions of Russia. The error margin does not exceed 3.4 percent.