Yesterday, Reuters ran a story on the Kremlin's current drive to address state corruption:
"Medvedev says graft is hindering economic growth and undermining the state, but opposition politicians say he is unlikely to be able to root out a problem that is deeply entrenched in Russian society."
Deeply entrenched? That's a bit cynical. Clearly blat networks are entrenched, as are expediting payments and public perceptions of corruption. But are all the apples bad?
The article goes on to source a "senior Russian prosecutor" who estimates that corrupt officials skim $120 billion a year, or one third of Russia's budget, into their pockets.
Ok then….deeply entrenched it is.
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