Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on December 31, 2010 ordering the government of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reduce the number of civil servants (bureaucrats) by 20 percent before 2013. More than 120,000 Russian employees will receive a notice of dismissal, a quarter of whom will be laid off before March 31, 2011.
Dmitry Peskove, Putin’s official spokesman, announced during an interview with the information agency Interfax on January 17 that the Prime Minister has received the decree and that by late March the first fire five percent of government employees will be fired, while another five and ten percent will be sacked in 2012 and 2013 respectively. When Putin was the Russian Head of State (2000-2008) he also promised to slash the number of public employees. He even himself admitted the evil of bureaucracy and corruption when he told a State Council meeting on February 8, 2008 that “we have still not yet succeeded in breaking away from the inertia of development based on energy resources and commodities. […] The state system today is weighed down by bureaucracy and corruption and does not have the motivation for positive change”. However, in spite of all his proclamations, he actually ended up increasing the number of those on the state’s payroll from 1.16 million to 1.67 million, despite having reduced the number of governmental ministries from 23 to 17.
President Medvedev's plan consist of bringing down public sector expenditures, but even more importantly, fighting corruption. Half of the savings from employee dismissals are to be used for salary increases for those remaining on the job. The Kremlin hopes, at least in theory, that there will be no, or at least less, need for employees to take bribes. However, Russian corruption is a hard nut to crack; it is like an uphill battle. What Medvedev has in mind is like proposing to Russians a journey across Siberia …on foot.
Since the change of regime in 1991, almost all Russian leaders have pursued an anti-corruption policy, at least in words. They have also paid a high price for the rhetoric of attacking the Russian bureaucracy. Some even lost their jobs. Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov (200-2004), for instance, is the one who suffered the most following his July 2002 assault on the civil service. The intended purpose was to bring about what he coined as the “Debureaucratization” of the Russian society, citing the unacceptable quantity of regulations and an overall lack of transparency. Regardless of his otherwise good intentions, he was rebuffed a month later by then-President Putin who rejected reductions in staffing levels, declaring that the size of the government of the Russian Federation was already comparatively small by world standards.
Putin sacked Kasyanov and his entire cabinet in February 2004, and the miles-long corridors of government buildings, federal and local parliaments and mayor offices have been since roamed by gray officials in striped suits (“siloviki” group, Kremlin officials with security/military backgrounds and led by Vladimir Putin) menacingly hungry for bribes and political patronage. With the exception of North Korea, perhaps nowhere in the world are state officials so gluttonous in their rabid bribe-taking.
Medvedev’s plan all sounds well and good. Russia needs to slash the number of parasitic bureaucrats, something that few can deny, and a pay increase to those remaining on the job would nominally reduce the incentive to take bribes.
The reality, however, is that Russia is a country suffering from an endemic disease, and this is buttressed with a deeply inefficient management system that can be easily compared to large and highly corrupt African states. Transparency International placed Russia 146th out of 180 countries – together with Sierra-Leone and Zimbabwe – in its 2009 Corruption Perception Index. With the rapid demographic decline, corruption is Russia’s most ominous problem over the long term. The staffing of the bureaucracy has totally spun out of control; red tape dominates all levels of the state apparatus, from Pskov to Vladivostok.
Stalinism reigns in a new but much less brutal form. More and more Russians are frustrated with corruption and inadequate public services. As during the late Soviet period, the ‘apparatchiki’ turned their back on the people and the political leadership. It is they who make the decisions in post-Yeltsin Russia; it does not matter if the country has 400,000 homeless and millions of Russians are living below the poverty line. Russian civil servants – “nachalniki” – act according to their will and self-centered interests. All things considered, Medvedev’s prospects of success are slim to none in the face of greed and overarching aloofness. His vows of a tough line on corruption could easily cost him his job or his chance for re-election in the upcoming presidential ballot scheduled for March 2012.
Bureaucratic and administrative chaos, like during most of Stalin’s leadership, is a proper description of contemporary Russia. The President’s generally sound decisions and policies are being totally ignored and circumvented by the deeply rooted and powerful bureaucracy, among which corruption has been rising at exponential rates despite of the fact that both Yeltsin and Putin, and now Medvedev, have rhetorically promised to combat it over the years.
In mid-August 2010, a report released by the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights, an independent association founded in 2004, revealed the amplitude of corruption in Russia. The Association studied and analyzed over 6,500 cases of corruption between July 2009 and August 2010 based mostly on testimonies.
According to the findings, the level of corruption could be equalled to half of Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Bribe-taking is particularly noticeable, as expected, in law-enforcement bodies (the Police) and the public health sector. Tax collectors and, particularly, members of judiciary get the biggest “cuts” of all. In the courts, many lawyers work with judges to “settle cases,” getting their fair share of perks in the course of the “negotiations.” Proceedings, the report said. The “down payment” for the position of assistant district prosecutor is set at a minimum of $10,000 and one has to pay out $52,000 to become a traffic police agent. In the Republic of Dagestan, among the poorest regions in Russia, to get someone acquitted of criminal charges may be priced at about $34,000, while it is more ‘affordable’ in civil cases with a price tag of $1,000. Investigators got this information through interviews with court system employees.
Russia’s GDP was $2.147 trillion in 2009, according to the CIA World Factbook. The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights report did not provide a precise number on the total value of corruption in Russia, but it did say that since the beginning of 2010 the average bribe value is more than $1,925 dollars (44,000 rubles). According to Ivan Nenenko of Transparency International, these figures “correspond with our [TI] estimations.” These estimates are also in line with those of the World Bank, which calculated that corruption in Russia in 2008 amounted to 48 percent of the GDP.
There is only one way forward if real reforms are to be successful and take root. They must be instigated from below, from voluntary civic and social movements, trade unions, business associations, self-help, coalitions and advocacy groups. Russian leaders have demonstrated their inability to adequately fight corruption and counter organized crime. Although the Russian president is taking the right steps, more is necessary to successfully cut down on government corruption. Medvedev needs to build alliances with the Russian people and social groups. The remaining question is whether he has the will, fortitude and necessary skills to pull it off?
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Medvedev to sack more than 120,000 public sector employees
March 17, 2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on December 31, 2010 ordering the government of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reduce the number of civil servants (bureaucrats) by 20 percent before 2013. More than 120,000 Russian employees will receive a notice of dismissal, a quarter of whom will be laid off before March 31, 2011.
Dmitry Peskove, Putin’s official spokesman, announced during an interview with the information agency Interfax on January 17 that the Prime Minister has received the decree and that by late March the first fire five percent of government employees will be fired, while another five and ten percent will be sacked in 2012 and 2013 respectively. When Putin was the Russian Head of State (2000-2008) he also promised to slash the number of public employees. He even himself admitted the evil of bureaucracy and corruption when he told a State Council meeting on February 8, 2008 that “we have still not yet succeeded in breaking away from the inertia of development based on energy resources and commodities. […] The state system today is weighed down by bureaucracy and corruption and does not have the motivation for positive change”. However, in spite of all his proclamations, he actually ended up increasing the number of those on the state’s payroll from 1.16 million to 1.67 million, despite having reduced the number of governmental ministries from 23 to 17.
President Medvedev's plan consist of bringing down public sector expenditures, but even more importantly, fighting corruption. Half of the savings from employee dismissals are to be used for salary increases for those remaining on the job. The Kremlin hopes, at least in theory, that there will be no, or at least less, need for employees to take bribes. However, Russian corruption is a hard nut to crack; it is like an uphill battle. What Medvedev has in mind is like proposing to Russians a journey across Siberia …on foot.
Since the change of regime in 1991, almost all Russian leaders have pursued an anti-corruption policy, at least in words. They have also paid a high price for the rhetoric of attacking the Russian bureaucracy. Some even lost their jobs. Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov (200-2004), for instance, is the one who suffered the most following his July 2002 assault on the civil service. The intended purpose was to bring about what he coined as the “Debureaucratization” of the Russian society, citing the unacceptable quantity of regulations and an overall lack of transparency. Regardless of his otherwise good intentions, he was rebuffed a month later by then-President Putin who rejected reductions in staffing levels, declaring that the size of the government of the Russian Federation was already comparatively small by world standards.
Putin sacked Kasyanov and his entire cabinet in February 2004, and the miles-long corridors of government buildings, federal and local parliaments and mayor offices have been since roamed by gray officials in striped suits (“siloviki” group, Kremlin officials with security/military backgrounds and led by Vladimir Putin) menacingly hungry for bribes and political patronage. With the exception of North Korea, perhaps nowhere in the world are state officials so gluttonous in their rabid bribe-taking.
Medvedev’s plan all sounds well and good. Russia needs to slash the number of parasitic bureaucrats, something that few can deny, and a pay increase to those remaining on the job would nominally reduce the incentive to take bribes.
The reality, however, is that Russia is a country suffering from an endemic disease, and this is buttressed with a deeply inefficient management system that can be easily compared to large and highly corrupt African states. Transparency International placed Russia 146th out of 180 countries – together with Sierra-Leone and Zimbabwe – in its 2009 Corruption Perception Index. With the rapid demographic decline, corruption is Russia’s most ominous problem over the long term. The staffing of the bureaucracy has totally spun out of control; red tape dominates all levels of the state apparatus, from Pskov to Vladivostok.
Stalinism reigns in a new but much less brutal form. More and more Russians are frustrated with corruption and inadequate public services. As during the late Soviet period, the ‘apparatchiki’ turned their back on the people and the political leadership. It is they who make the decisions in post-Yeltsin Russia; it does not matter if the country has 400,000 homeless and millions of Russians are living below the poverty line. Russian civil servants – “nachalniki” – act according to their will and self-centered interests. All things considered, Medvedev’s prospects of success are slim to none in the face of greed and overarching aloofness. His vows of a tough line on corruption could easily cost him his job or his chance for re-election in the upcoming presidential ballot scheduled for March 2012.
Bureaucratic and administrative chaos, like during most of Stalin’s leadership, is a proper description of contemporary Russia. The President’s generally sound decisions and policies are being totally ignored and circumvented by the deeply rooted and powerful bureaucracy, among which corruption has been rising at exponential rates despite of the fact that both Yeltsin and Putin, and now Medvedev, have rhetorically promised to combat it over the years.
In mid-August 2010, a report released by the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights, an independent association founded in 2004, revealed the amplitude of corruption in Russia. The Association studied and analyzed over 6,500 cases of corruption between July 2009 and August 2010 based mostly on testimonies.
According to the findings, the level of corruption could be equalled to half of Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Bribe-taking is particularly noticeable, as expected, in law-enforcement bodies (the Police) and the public health sector. Tax collectors and, particularly, members of judiciary get the biggest “cuts” of all. In the courts, many lawyers work with judges to “settle cases,” getting their fair share of perks in the course of the “negotiations.” Proceedings, the report said. The “down payment” for the position of assistant district prosecutor is set at a minimum of $10,000 and one has to pay out $52,000 to become a traffic police agent. In the Republic of Dagestan, among the poorest regions in Russia, to get someone acquitted of criminal charges may be priced at about $34,000, while it is more ‘affordable’ in civil cases with a price tag of $1,000. Investigators got this information through interviews with court system employees.
Russia’s GDP was $2.147 trillion in 2009, according to the CIA World Factbook. The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights report did not provide a precise number on the total value of corruption in Russia, but it did say that since the beginning of 2010 the average bribe value is more than $1,925 dollars (44,000 rubles). According to Ivan Nenenko of Transparency International, these figures “correspond with our [TI] estimations.” These estimates are also in line with those of the World Bank, which calculated that corruption in Russia in 2008 amounted to 48 percent of the GDP.
There is only one way forward if real reforms are to be successful and take root. They must be instigated from below, from voluntary civic and social movements, trade unions, business associations, self-help, coalitions and advocacy groups. Russian leaders have demonstrated their inability to adequately fight corruption and counter organized crime. Although the Russian president is taking the right steps, more is necessary to successfully cut down on government corruption. Medvedev needs to build alliances with the Russian people and social groups. The remaining question is whether he has the will, fortitude and necessary skills to pull it off?
