05 December 2012, 15:06 Politics

They charge like in Honduras

Russia ranked 133rd in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, the same as Honduras.

Polina Matveeva , Alisa Shtykina close 100%

According to the international organization Transparency International, Russia took 133rd place in the corruption perception index, equal to Honduras. For the first time, researchers note in Russia an increase in civic activity aimed at combating corruption. In 2012, the index included 176 countries and was calculated using a new methodology.

In the international corruption perception index prepared by Transparency International (TI), Russia shared 133rd place with the Comoros, Guyana, Honduras, Iran and Kazakhstan, scoring 28 points out of 100. The effect of the latest anti-corruption campaign, which began with arrests at Oboronservis ”, the rating does not record - the data was collected long before.

“We are experiencing a relatively new period, for the first time the authorities have suddenly moved, but, despite the great public demand (to fight corruption), they allow society to solve this problem only in extreme cases,” Elena Panfilova, head of the Russian branch of Transparency International, told reporters . “It is no longer possible not to fight government corruption. All these areas ( the Ministry of Defense , the Ministry of Agriculture , affected by the anti-corruption campaign - Gazeta.Ru) are strategic for the government and should ensure the stability of the vertical for the next 6 years.”

Transparency recorded a noticeable rise in social activity on the part of the middle class, which “started doing something without waiting for the authorities to create a public organization for it”, Transparency recorded a year and a half ago. Those early manifestations later grew into large-scale protests against election fraud and a powerful volunteer movement in the summer of 2012, said the head of the Russian branch of TI.

“The Corruption Perceptions Index shows that societies and authorities in many more countries still need to pay much more attention to this problem,” the organization said in a press release. The ranking of countries' corruption is based on surveys and research, during which experts find out how residents assess the level of corruption in their country. According to Transparency International, Russia's performance this year is based on the results of nine different surveys and studies.

The first place in the TI index this year was shared by Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, with 90 points each.

As TI experts note, “these countries have achieved a low level of corruption thanks to developed systems for providing access to information” and “laws regulating the activities of persons holding public positions.” Next come Sweden, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, Iceland, Luxembourg, Germany, Hong Kong, Barbados, Belgium, Japan, the UK and the USA.

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The TI ranking is completed by Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia, where, according to the report’s authors, there is an almost complete “lack of accountability and effectiveness of government institutions.” The figures are slightly better for Sudan, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Among the former Soviet republics, Estonia has remained the best in the ranking for many years: in 2012 it took 32nd place. Below Russia are Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (170th place), Tajikistan (157th), Kyrgyzstan (154th), Ukraine (144th) and Azerbaijan (139th).

In last year's corruption ranking, Russia was in 143rd place out of 182 and was on the same list as Azerbaijan, Belarus and the Comoros Islands. In 2010, Russia ranked 154th.

However, it would be inaccurate to compare these data with this year's study. This year, the “corruption perception index” was calculated using a new methodology. Now the index scores are distributed from 0 (most corrupt) to 100 (least corrupt). Previously, the corruption perception index determined the level of corruption in the public sector on a scale from 0 (high level of corruption) to 10 (almost no corrupt officials). In addition, the new methodology for calculating the index will now rely on data collected from each country during one specific year, allowing it to more clearly record changes over time. Previous indices summarized survey data from the two previous years.

Due to changes in methodology, experts emphasize, the estimates received by the countries included in the 2012 index cannot be compared with data for 2011 and other previous years. Year-on-year comparisons will become possible starting in 2013, the organization said in a press release.

“It doesn’t matter how Russia moves to the bottom of the ranking,” Panfilova explained. “The main thing is that it is consistently in the bottom third, and this indicates serious institutional problems, the specific attitude of the authorities towards the problem of corruption and the lack of participation of society in solving it. We don’t have a content base.” Over the past four years, many new laws have been adopted, commissions on official ethics have appeared in ministries and the State Duma , but, according to her, all this is not working well yet: power is limited to “organizational and legislative measures” without actually filling them, she is sure.