ST. PETERSBURG, November 2. /TASS/. Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergey Ivanov has said that standards of fighting against corruption should not be forced upon other countries.

"Forcing standards upon other countries is impermissible as they are not ready for them," Ivanov told the 6th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. "We have already realized that the experience of other countries in forming these or those norms of behavior often turns out to be unsuitable, and sometimes even harmful," Ivanov added.

"In this connection, we think that peculiarities of each concrete country should be taken into account when implementing international anti-corruption standards," he continued.

Ivanov reminded that UN Convention against Corruption has served as a universal document for fighting against the corruption threat for the last 10 years. "Such unity of principled basic approaches increases effectiveness of efforts at the national level, helps to build efficient inter-state partnership in which Russia traditionally actively participates," he noted.

"It is important that the established system of conventional anti-corruption standards is spreading not only on the state competence. It is already spreading on the private sector and civil society," Ivanov stressed.

The official also noted that Russian anti-corruption legislation has been recognized as adherent to the Convention and global standards. "At the same time, we continue to pay special attention to bilateral and multilateral initiatives in the sphere of fighting against corruption, money laundering and legalizing assets of questionable, criminal origin," Ivanov said.

Both government and business should fight against corruption

According to Kremlin Chief of Staff, both government and business should fight against corruption.

"We understand very well that in the fight against corruption, not only precise legal mechanisms and decisive steps on behalf of the state are important. Business circles could and should also considerably contribute to the joint work," Ivanov told the 6th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

Ivanov described as promising Russia’s initiative to adopt the Anti-Corruption Charter of the Russian Business. "The considerable number of Russian entrepreneurs have already joined it voluntarily, including shareholders and top executives of mining and industrial companies," the official noted. "The Charter aims to form the culture of non-acceptance of corruption, increasing transparency both in the sphere of corporate relations and in interactions between business and the government," he added.

The Kremlin chief of staff also stressed that "the system of fighting against corruption in Russia is based on the national legal culture, taking into account the historical and social-economic development, as well as concrete demands and interests of the society." He reminded that mechanisms on preventing corruption schemes are actively employed in Russia. For instance, information about property and assets of state officials is discloses, and their earnings and spending are closely monitored. "To eliminate preconditions for corruption, the work of control and monitor authorities is being put into order, the number of business checks is shrinking," Ivanov said.

"Another key condition for successful fight against corruption is broad involvement of civil society’s structures in the process," the official said. He reminded that "formats of using non-governmental organizations are enshrined in conventional mechanisms, which is rather logical. Reaching sensible results in the fight against corruption is directly linked with consistent and systematic formation of total unacceptance toward any manifestations of this evil among the population," he added.