Is anything changing under Putin?
On Tue, Apr 09, 2002 at 07:30:54PM +0400, ChrisD(RJ) wrote:
>
> Corruption is the biggest obstacle to EVERYTHING. (And corruption is
> parasitic upon low salaries for government employees, which is itself
> parasitic upon people not paying any taxes, depriving the government of
the
> money it needs to pay people. The main reason bureaucrats and cops are
such
> avid bribe-takers is that they don't earn enough to live. A cop in Moscow
> earns something like $80 a month. You cannot raise a family for $80 a
month,
> believe me.)
>
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Salaries for civil servants are supposed to double this year from a mere
pittance to a small pittance. It should improve things somewhat. Salaries
for teachers, which are minute, are also supposed to go up.
I would say things are getting more streamlined. You're always going to have corruption in Russia, but my impression is it's moving to more skimming-off-the-top corruption from wholesale, hook, line and sinker corruption. A lot of things are becoming systematized and legalized. For instance, every business in Russia needs a "krysha" ("roof," i.e., some form of protection). In the past, you usually needed a krysha with some criminal group or an illegal one bought under the table from governmental authorities. Now, you can get a legal krysha -- you go down to the local police station, pay them some money and they will send a couple of burly guys with Kalashnikovs to guard your store or bank or whatever.
As I've said before, everybody in Russia, including me, is corrupt to some extent, if by corruption you mean engaging in extra-legal activities like paying bribes. Back when I had problems with my housing registration, I would give little sums of money to cops all the time. It's just less of a hassle than paying a fine. It's called "doing things po-chelovechestvu" -- "in the human way."
Chris Doss The Russia Journal