MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. The corruption within Ukraine is unmatched anywhere in the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
"In Russia, we have plenty of problems. We, in Russia, and in the entire world are fighting corruption, but corruption in Ukraine has taken on a life of its own - there is nothing like it in the world, you can take it from me," he said at a meeting with the new members of the Russian Public Chamber.
"Believe me - I had close contacts with [Ukraine’s] former leaders - they buy everything: the vote in the Supreme Court, the vote in the Constitutional Court. Buy!" he said. He recalled his talks with the former Ukrainian leaders who used to say when discussing certain topics: "We will take care of this, it will cost this much." "This coming from the highest officials! I was taken aback! I said: ‘This is how you do things here?! [And the answer was]: Well, yes, this is the way it is here,’" Putin shared details.
As an example of corruption in Ukraine, the Russian president cited arms sales. "They say now - weapons from Ukraine are popping up in the Middle East. Of course they are, because they sell them," he said, adding that Ukraine also sells weapons to the Taliban (outlawed in Russia). And, from there, [the weapons] spread anywhere," Putin said.
"Everything is for sale," he described the situation in Ukraine.
"People in Novorossiya and Donbass were living in such conditions, with everything bogged down in corruption," he said. "We must introduce our standards steadily while showing respect to society, to the people living there." He admitted, however, that corruption is a problem in Russia as well. "But the scope is different: there [in Ukraine], corruption is actually legal," he added.