On Wednesday, at a meeting with representatives of public organizations to counteract corruption head of the Russian presidential administration Sergei Ivanov urged the state authorities and the civil society to unite in the struggle against corruption. Not only public servants, but also businesspeople, who give bribes, should be punished. Ivanov also instructed to provide the media with the unbiased information about the struggle against corruption. Now political parties, public organizations and the media have all opportunities to openly ask about the facts of false information about the incomes of some public servants and inform about the facts that they violate the rules of official conduct, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily reported. The head of the Kremlin administration stated that the state authorities take the civil society as an important partner and ally in the struggle against corruption.
The Kommersant daily reported that Ivanov supported the idea to create an anti-corruption map in Russia. “The idea of the anti-corruption map is not new, it was realized by the foundation Indem and Transparency International in 2000-2003,” head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee Kirill Kabanov stated. However, “corruption practices should be systematized to cure the illness, and the map is just an illustration.” “Does it have any sense, when any Russian can say to you that all people are stealing and taking bribes? The time has come when the corruption groups already live on their own laws and they do not give a damn who is in power,” Kabanov added. President Vladimir Putin realizes this well, he said. “Therefore, he is seeking to oust the businesspeople from the State Duma and the state-run corporations,” he said.
Ivanov instructed to provide the journalists with the unbiased information about the struggle against corruption, rather than “ungrounded criticism,” the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily noted. The experts noticed in Ivanov’s statements some hints on blogger Alexei Navalny, who is well-known with his scandalous unmasking reports of Russian top officials. According to them, Ivanov puts it clearly that the authorities will continue to develop the anti-corruption campaign only in the way profitable for them as a lash against their opponents. “Navalny is one of the strongest irritators for the state authorities in the struggle against corruption,” chairman of the board of the Centre of Political Technologies Boris Makarenko said. The expert noted that there is no unbiased information for the media, as the state authorities do not wage a large-scale struggle against corruption.
Deputy general director of the Levada Centre Alexei Grazhdankin told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily that the Russians reproduce the image of the corrupt official in the sociological surveys. “People are facing the fact that in a third of cases the state authorities are extorting money from them when the latter address to the authorities,” they have all the reasons for this opinion. Grazhdankin noted that, according to sociological surveys, the majority believes that the corruption cannot be eradicated in Russia. There are all the reasons for this, the expert believes. “The corruption mechanisms compensate for an inefficient system of state power. Frequently a certificate or a license can be received only for money,” he said.
Deputy director of Transparency International-Russia Ivan Ninenko told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily, “The state authorities cannot fight for the public opinion at all. The authorities can take only tough repressive measures.” The sociological survey of the UBS bank that was made public on Tuesday showed that 55% of businesspeople find corruption as the key problem in Russia, he recalled. The notorious image of the corrupt official did not appear from the air, the expert said, “The major companies Pfizer and Daimler paid the fines on the homeland for giving bribes in Russia, none of our public servants were brought to justice!”