FINROSFORUM

FINROSFORUM

FINROSFORUM  //  The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum strives to promote cooperation between the peoples of Finland and Russia by supporting civic initiatives for democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech.

Jul 16 / 3:41pm

Russian Untouchables


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Jun 30 / 1:10am

Nations in Transit 2010: Russia Declining

The prestigious watchdog Freedom House published on Tuesday the 14th edition of the study Nations in Transit, which is a comparative study of democratic development in 29 countries from Central Europe to Eurasia. The overarching conclusion is that 2009 was a year of broad, cross-regional pressures on democratic developments: scores declined for 14 of the 29 countries. Over the past five years, eight of the ten new EU states have undergone declines in their overall democracy scores.

However, with the grave situation for defenders of human rights and democracy growing worse in 2009, Nations in Transit findings show that over the past decade, Russia [pdf] has undergone the largest decline of any country in the study. In terms of population, nearly 80 percent of residents of the former Soviet Union - some 221 million people - still live in entrenched authoritarian settings where they are deprived of basic political rights.

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Jun 11 / 3:30am

Is Russia Orwell's "Animal Farm"?


Russia is like George Orwell's Animal Farm, where the pigs set the rules, writes independent journalist Dmitry Sidorov, former bureau chief for Kommersant Publishing in Washington, D.C., in Forbes.

Since Putin became Russia's undisputed leader, he has rapidly eliminated critique and dissent. The Kremlin has tens, or hundreds, of thousands of sheep capable of endlessly bleating "Putin and Medvedev are good, the opposition is bad." For hundreds of years Russia has known no other rules, making every resident mimic the pattern of elite behavior no matter how much money he had or didn't have. Together they stole, and stole big, throughout the history of the country.

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Jun 7 / 2:07am

Russia Turns Deaf Ear as Killing Cries for Justice

Only one spectator showed up for the final hearing in the killing of Magomed Yevloyev. He was a broad-beamed, ruddy-faced man in a carefully pressed black suit, and once in the courtroom he removed his tall fur hat, set it on the bench beside him and waited for a chance to speak.

Sunlight streamed in the window, bouncing off the white walls, but the old man had brought a heaviness with him into the room. When the time came, Yakhya Yevloyev stood and recited a litany of evidence not gathered ­ witnesses not interviewed, threads left dangling ­ that might have led to a murder conviction in his son's death.

The room went silent out of respect for the man's loss, and for a moment it seemed as if the process could rewind 18 months to the beginning, when his son, an opposition leader in the southern republic of Ingushetia, was hustled into a police car and shot through the head at point-blank range.

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May 20 / 5:32am

Russian Journalists Fighting Graft Pay in Blood


[There has been] a wave of unsolved attacks and official harassment against journalists, human rights activists and opposition politicians [in Russia]. Rarely, if ever, is anyone held responsible. One editor was beaten in front of his home, and the assailants seized only copies of his articles and other material for the next day’s issue, not his wallet or cellphone. Another journalist was pummeled by plainclothes police officers after a demonstration.

These types of attacks or other means of intimidation, including aggressive efforts by prosecutors to shut down news media outlets or nonprofit groups, serve as an unnerving deterrent. And in a few cases in recent years, the violence in the country has escalated into contract killings. Corruption is widespread in Russia, and government often functions poorly. But most journalists and nonprofit groups shy away from delving deeply into these problems.

The culture of impunity in Russia represents the most glaring example of the country’s inability to establish real laws in the two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. And this failure radiates throughout society, touching upon ordinary men and women who are trying to carve out lives in the new Russia, but are wary of questioning authority. Among the major beneficiaries [of Russia's "legal nihilism"] have been the governing party’s politicians.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/world/europe/18impunity.html
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May 14 / 12:21am

Russians believe bribery "solves problems"


Average bribe size in Russia almost doubles in three years

The average bribe size in Russia almost doubled from 5,048 rubles (EUR 131) in 2006 to 8,887 rubles (EUR 231) in 2010, the Levada Center said with reference to a poll it conducted on 16-19 April 2010.

Ninety-two percent of Russians registering companies or applying for business permits have had to give bribes in the past three years. The rate was only 19% in 2005, the center said.

Some 65-67% of the respondents had to bribe traffic police officers. A total of 43-45% gave bribes in court (32% in 2005) or in the registration of their driving licenses and the technical examination of vehicles (26% in 2005). A total of 38.5% gave bribes for dropping criminal charges (less than 1% in 2005).

Thirty-three percent bribed government workers issuing them with documents, 30% gave bribes to hospital staff, military registration and enlistment offices and higher educational establishments, 27% gave bribes to school teachers, 20% gave bribes in apartment privatization, 15% in the registration of their residence, and 14.5% in the course of employment.

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Filed under // Bribery Corruption Police

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Apr 20 / 12:44am

Foreign companies fight Russian corruption


Foreign companies operating in Russia will sign a pact to fight bribery and corruption on 21 April 2010, Vedomosti reports. The initiative comes from German companies and the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade. The list of German companies to sign the pact includes 52 enterprises, including Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bahn, and Axel Springer. The International Business Leader Forum, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the Association of European Businesses will also join the anti-corruption pact.

The pact obliges signatories to reject bribery both directly and indirectly through donations to charities and political parties, or other channels. The foreign investors will sign two documents: an initiative on corporate ethics in Russia and another document on international principles against bribery drawn up by a working group consisting of officials from the World Economic Forum, Transparency International, and the Basel Institute on Governance. Arkady Dvorkovich, advisor to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, will attend the signing ceremony.

http://www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/article/2010/04/20/231830

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Mar 16 / 1:36pm

Russian politicians, business protect mafia


Sixty-nine suspected members of a Georgian mafia gang were arrested in a Europe-wide operation. Police believe the gang is linked to a Russian mobster, Gennady Petrov, now on trial in Spain. Meanwhile, the main target of the operation, Lasha Shushanashvili, escaped because of lack of cooperation from Greek police.

The Russian mafia, and by extension the organised crime syndicates in the former Soviet republics, have gained more power and are more dangerous than the Italian mafia families. The reason is that the Russian mafia enjoys the protection of Russia's political and business structures, Spanish daily El País reports.

The Russian mafia has close ties to members of the former Soviet nomenklature. This explains the trouble in irradicating the Russian mafia. Every time that Spanish authorities investigating the activities of Russian organised crime have called for cooperation from their Russian counterparts, they have faced nothing but trouble.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/cerca/Kremlin/lejos/justicia/elpepuesp/20100315elpepunac_3/Tes

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Feb 2 / 2:31pm

Russian riot police blow the whistle


A group of Russian riot police officers told the opposition New Times that they are being forced to make false arrests and that their fellow officers work as bodyguards for gangsters.

"One of us once protected a shwarma place outside a hotel in Moscow's Ismailov district. On Arbat, we guard the office of a Georgian mobster," one officer said. Commanders get their cut.

Officers were forced to arrest innocent people because of orders to make at least three detentions per shift. Otherwise they risked seeing their monthly salaries cut, the report said.

The police officers made their allegations public after they received no reaction to a letter sent to President Dmitry Medvedev. The letter was signed by "about a dozen" OMON officers.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/omon-officers-complain-of-corruption-in-their-ranks/398800.html

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Filed under // Corruption OMON Police Russia

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Feb 1 / 6:02am

The Wizard of Russia

Putin never lies, steals or even makes a mistake. His reputation is irreproachable. Few Russians know about the corruption allegations brought against him in the early 1990s. Few know how many of Putin’s friends were given CEO positions in Russia’s largest corporations, helping them make their way onto the Forbes billionaire list in only a couple of years -- nor would they believe any of this if they found out about it.

Putin responded to Western media reports alleging that his net worth is estimated to be tens of billions of dollars. In his signature style, he said commentators invented this rubbish by picking the information from their noses and spreading it across their newspaper pages and internet sites. End of discussion. In an open society, these and other allegations would be aired, investigated and made part of the public discussion.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/the-wizard-of-russia/398737.html

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Filed under // Corruption Putin Russia

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