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Russia ranked way down on corruption index

Photo: Jonas Karlsbakk

Transparency International, a civil society anti-corruption watchdog, ranked Russia 133rd out of a total of 174 in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012.

Location

Russia is alongside Kazakhstan and Iran, just behind Uganda. 

The other Barents countries are among the least corrupt of all. Finland ranks 1st, Sweden 4th and Norway 7th. 

Despite Russia’s latest effort to fight corruption, including the dismissal of defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov after his ministry was caught up in a corruption scandal, the country performs worst out all the G20 and BRICS countries in the corruption index. 

The Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in countries worldwide. Based on expert opinion, countries are scored from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Russia scores 28. 

19 percent of the Russian respondents said that the high corruption rate prevents Russia from achieving economic prosperity, according to a recent survey by opinion pollster VTsIOM, reports RIA Novosti.

“The public anti-graft drive is the key to improving Russia’s dismal place in the corruption rankings, but it remains unclear whether the government is planning to utilize grassroots activists to fight corruption” Yelena Panfilova, head of Transparency International Russia, said at the survey’s presentation in Moscow on Wednesday, according to RIA Novosti.

Russia’s Nordic neighbors all ranked among the top ten. Finland tops the index along with New Zealand and Denmark. Sweden ranks fourth and Norway seventh.