Out of all the recent articles, Eurasia Daily Monitor summed up the current Russian situation best: Medvedev’s Euro-Modernization Hits the Corruption Wall. The European Union is keen on establishing a more normalized business relationship with Russia and proposed a “Partnership for Modernization.” This partnership empasizes the rule of law and corporate governance as European businesses are wary of the Russian commerical climate. The crucial issue in the EU-Russia business relationship is corruption.
The US State Department issued their annual human rights report last week and described corruption in Russia as
widespread throughout the executive, legislative, and judicial branches at all levels, and officials often engaged in corrupt policies with impunity.
Additionally, TRACE International’s Alexandra Wrage mentioned in a Reuters interview that corruption extracts a high tax on development in emerging market economies. And in comparison to other BRIC countries, the corruption in Russia is especially pervasive,
Corruption in China is an inverted pyramid with most bribery at the top while India is the opposite with corruption rampant at lower levels but tapering off higher up. Russia is a solid block. There is bribery at all levels. There appears to be sense of near-complete impunity, a sense of entitlement.
To underscore the endemic corruption, Russian bloggers have found plans by the Interior Ministry to buy a $800,000 golden bed. With only government-sponsored news available to Russians, bloggers have taken on the role of whistleblowers in a country with few outlets for political discourse. But with only 30% of Russian households with access to the internet, the impact of the bloggers remain muted.
