The
political sphere in Russia has been dominated by oligarchs and private
businessmen ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rampant privatisation
and a near seamless transition of the means of production from state control to
a few private hands, often those who had been working for the state previously,
has made the culture of high-level corruption a deep rooted problem.
Additionally, there has historically been little faith in the systems of legal
redressal. This can be traced back to Tsarist Russia, where laws were a means
of control, and was carried over as authoritarian rule making in the Soviet
Union.
The
size and variety of Russia’s geography and ethnic diversity also mean that the
regional governments have more economic and political power. The struggle to
reorganise the country in the post-Soviet era meant that there was political
horse trading at the regional level. There is a view that the consolidation of
power at the centre is dependent on peace being maintained at the regional
levels. This was done through the awarding of contracts for the supporters of
those in power, or by turning a blind eye to corruption that was going on.
These processes were masked by the influx of capitalism and an assumption among
the elites that the political system was in place for them to use for private
gain.
I
will now talk of three corruption scandals to have hit Russia in recent times:
1)
Sochi Olympics 2014
At
a time when there have been investigations into the economic viability of major
sporting events, like the Olympics and the football World Cups, Russia hosted
the Winter Olympics at a subtropical summer retreat for middle-class Russians
in 2014. The games quickly became the costliest ever (across summer and winter
games), primarily owing to the fact that almost an entire city had to be built
from scratch. There were allegations of awarding of contracts to those close to
President Putin, with Boris Nemtsov (a critic of the President and who was
subsequently shot and killed in February 2015) stating that the costs of
“kickbacks and embezzlement” were about $30 billion.
2)
IAAF doping scandal
The
corruption at the heart of the International Athletics Federation, IAAF, first
came to light when a Russian administrator revealed that officials with the
Russian Athletics Federation had taken large sums of money from elite
marathoner Liliya Shibukhova to cover up irregularities in the biological
passport (a document that helps keep track of anti-doping checks that the
athletes undergo). Some people consider the first instance of corruption to
have involved active athletes, whereas corruption was hitherto a backroom
process involving vote-trading over important decisions. Russia has since been
banned indefinitely from all athletics events, and stands to miss out on the
Rio Olympics games 2016.
3)
2015 Anti Corruption drive
In
2015, the economy was reeling from low oil prices and a general stagnation. In
response to this, President Putin launched a massive anti-corruption drive to
try and get back some money of those who had been convicted for corruption
earlier. Alexander Khoroshavin became the first sitting governor to have been
relieved of his post since 2006 on allegations of receiving a bribe over the
awarding of a contract for the construction of a thermal power plant in his
region. While some called it Putin’s acceptance of the need to act on
widespread corruption at the highest political levels, others called it a
“warning”. The level of collusion at that level was, according to some, too
high to make an anti corruption purge effective.
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