Translated material
Living on one salary
The President recommended the security forces to separate power from money
President Putin held an All-Russian coordination meeting of heads of law enforcement agencies yesterday in the Kremlin. The authorities themselves had been waiting for this event for a long time and intensely. In principle, such coordination meetings are traditionally held every year, but for a long time Putin himself did not deign to give them his personal attention. Only his predecessor Boris Yeltsin raised such an event to such a high level back in the 90s. Accordingly, a few weeks ago, persistent rumors spread across all law enforcement agencies that new projects for any radical reforms or important personnel changes could be announced at the current coordination meeting. Or at least this meeting will serve as a starting point for them. These conversations were also fueled by President Putin’s unexpected reshuffles in the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs last week , as well as the speech of security forces at the “Government Hour” in the State Duma, at which it was announced that extremism and corruption in the country had acquired alarming proportions.However, yesterday President Putin did without fundamental news and even without the “devastating” passages that law enforcement officers got, for example, during the president’s visits to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He stated that the crime situation in the country remains difficult, and placed the main emphasis on the development of a crime prevention system in all its manifestations.
In principle, the president’s report could leave the impression that rumors about radical changes in the security forces will remain just rumors. However, some observers believe that this is precisely what may herald serious steps in this area. As the experience of previous personnel and structural reforms undertaken by the president earlier shows, they all took place against the backdrop of similar “lulls,” and sometimes even after direct promises not to make “sharp movements.”
It is worth noting that despite the outwardly calm tone of President Putin, in the report he highlighted several very unpleasant moments for the security forces. “You know that in recent years, funding for law enforcement agencies has increased significantly - significantly -," the president said. -- Meanwhile, despite the growing potential of law enforcement agencies, the crime situation continues to remain difficult. The share of serious and especially serious crimes is growing. Street crime has increased by more than a third. In general, since the beginning of this year, the number of registered crimes has increased by 12.5% compared to the same period last year. However, only every second crime is solved. All this continues to negatively affect the situation in society and hinder the business life of the country.”
Vladimir Putin named well-known measures as recipes - the creation of a unified state crime prevention system, improvement of criminal legislation, including bringing it into compliance with international conventions already ratified by the Russian Federation.
In the same spirit, the president touched upon the problem of corruption , which has recently become the most painful topic for politicians and officials. “I want to emphasize once again: money and power must be separated. And this is also the choice of every official, every government employee or law enforcement officer. If you want to make money, go into business. If you want to realize yourself in the public service, live on government pay. Let’s fight together for its increase,” the president called. In this regard, he stated the need to introduce new legislative requirements for representatives of law enforcement agencies and the judicial system to control the income and property of both the officials themselves and family members.
However, such a rather calm speech by the president does not look like a point in the reform plans. For example, later, speaking at the same meeting, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said that “there is a real need to make legislative decisions to improve the bodies of the General Prosecutor’s Office,” and proposed creating a special investigative committee under it. “This is due to the fact that the prosecutor’s office today initiates criminal cases itself and investigates them itself. The prosecutor supervises himself, supports the prosecution in court,” Mr. Gryzlov noted, clearly referring to long-standing plans to restructure the entire investigative system in the country.
In addition, another long-standing “administrative intrigue” was continued at the meeting. In his speech, the President said nothing about the drug threat, which a few years ago was recognized as one of the most pressing. As you know, it was in connection with this that a special agency was created - the Federal Service for Drug Control. However, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika told the meeting participants that “despite the fact that a lot is being done to combat drug crime, the drug addiction of the population has not yet met with adequate counteraction.” It is noteworthy that quite recently representatives of the Federal Drug Control Service , on the contrary, stated that the number of drug addicts in the country has begun to decline. Apparently, there is obviously no unanimity in assessing the situation both among the security forces themselves and among the country’s top leadership. And plans for the “redistribution” of the power bloc are still being actively discussed.