Corruption customary for Russia but must be fought resolutely – Putin

MOSCOW. Dec 20 (Interfax) – Corruption is customary for Russia but the government still has to combat it, President Vladimir Putin told a Thursday press conference.

“Speaking of the anti-corruption fight; this is one of our problems and a customary one,” he said.

Putin told reporters a historical anecdote: Peter the Great ordered Prosecutor General Pavel Yaguzhinsky to execute thieves and the latter asked, “All-merciful Sire, do you want to lose all your subjects?”

“As you can see, theft is kind of a tradition here,” Putin said. But corruption is directly related to economic development. “Every emerging market is infected with this virus this way or another,” he observed.

“Our fight should be constant and insistent,” Putin stressed, adding that irreversible punishment must be the main principle.

About 800 people were tried for corruptive practices last year, Putin said. “A large part of them are people with a high status: either officials or deputies or law enforcement officers,” he said.

Putin also disagreed with the opinion that Russia did not have independent courts. “I do not agree with the thesis that we have no independent judiciary,” he said.

“That is nonsense and total absurdity. We have a stable judiciary and it is developing, we also have good traditions of law schools and legal practice. Really, we should not put ashes on our head or beat ourselves with chains,” Putin said.