Survey finds corruption in Russian government
July 9, 2013
Allegations of political corruption, even when they lack full substantiation, can seriously mar the public perception of any country. Reuters reported that the results of Transparency International's 2012 global survey came to light, and a number of nations were cited as having notable issues with governmental corruption - including Russia. While Russian President Vladimir Putin did not receive much specific attention in the survey's findings, the results could be considerably detrimental to how his administration is viewed. The findings may be the discussion of calls made on prepaid phone cards between concerned individuals within the government.
According to the news source, the survey focused on 12 major civic institutions in a variety of different countries. Russia ranked as one of seven nations where civil servants are viewed as the most corrupt, along with Libya, Pakistan and others. Only 5 percent of Russian respondents to the questionnaire cited Putin's anti-corruption campaign as effective - no prosecutions have come out of it, although one investigation did lead to the dismissal of defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
More respondents - 92 percent - stated that bureaucrats were most corrupt than those who criticized other institutions. Police, judges and politicians were considered second-, third- and fourth-most corrupt, respectively.
According to Forbes, the survey also found that 50 percent of Russian respondents said that corruption has increased either nominally or substantially since the last Transparency International survey - in 2010 - and that 97 percent of respondents believed that the country's leaders operated at the behest of special interest groups rather than the people.
Other high-profile developing countries researched in the survey had similar results. In Brazil, India and Mexico, 88 percent, 80 percent and 93 percent of respondents, respectively, stated that political corruption was a moderate or severe problem. Even in the United States, 60 percent of those surveyed said corruption had increased to some degree.