The Russian armed forces and security troops has seen a sharp rise in corruption-related crimes this year, Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said on Friday.
"As the general crime rate in the military forces fell by 16% ... the number [of attempted corruption cases] has risen by 10% in the past two months," Fridinsky said during a meeting of security officials.
He did not elaborate on the reasons of the rise in corruption crimes this year. But his remarks suggested that a growth of corruption-related crimes was also typical for 2009.
Fridinsky said that last year the number of revealed crimes of fraud grew by 50%. He also said the number of corruption crimes was also rising along with embezzlement and abuse of power.
"In the past year, 534 army officers, including several high-ranking ones, were convicted for crimes connected to their duties. Military prosecutors have revealed around 7,500 violations of law in abuse of power, over 2,000 officials were punished, 540 of them were officially warned," Fridinsky said.
Fridinsky said corruption affected worst the sensitive sectors of state military purchases, providing housing and official benefits for servicemen.
The Berlin-based non-governmental anti-corruption organization Transparency International has persistently rated Russia as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. In the 2009 Corruption Perception Index, Russia was ranked 146th of 180, below countries like Togo, Pakistan and Libya. The United States was ranked 19th.
A total of 4,500 corruption cases were brought to court in the first half of 2009 in Russia, with 532 public officials and 700 law-enforcers being convicted.
President Medvedev has highlighted corruption as one of Russia's most pressing problems. In May 2009, Medvedev said corruption, long seen as an unfortunate fact of life in Russia, needed to be made "improper."
As part of the ongoing military reform, Russia aims to downsize the Armed Forces from the current 1.2 million to 1 million personnel, including a reduction in the number of generals and admirals from 1,100 to 200 by 2012.
MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti)
