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Putin calls for openness in anti-corruption efforts

The president vowed to demonstrate zero tolerance to corruption

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that anti-corruption efforts will always be open and public and all corruption-related criminal cases will be fully investigated.

"I feel responsibility for this hideosity. Otherwise you would have know nothing about such cases. If we fight against crimes, against corruption, against profiteering from people, we, first, must always carry through such probes and, second, it must be done openly," he said at his annual televised question-and-answer session.

The president vowed to demonstrate zero tolerance to corruption. "Corruption-related crimes are declining in Russia largely thanks, I think, our consistent and uncompromising efforts. And we will continue them in future," he stressed, adding that special attention will be focused on public employees and law enforcers.

However he noted that both sides are to blame in what concerns corruption-related crimes. "Some are giving, others are taking. Where this money originates from? Obviously, from corruption schemes, from business," he said, adding that the most important thing is to ensure the inevitability of punishment.