MOSCOW, December 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has revved up its anti-corruption effort but has yet to produce tangible results, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
Forty-five percent of respondents said they were aware an anti-corruption campaign was underway, up from the 36 percent who said so when asked the same question in 2007, the pollster VTsIOM said.
However, 38 percent said the campaign has not produced any meaningful results with 13 percent saying corruption keeps getting worse.
The people most likely to see positive trends in the anti-corruption effort are supporters of the ruling United Russia party (58 percent) and A Just Russia (59 percent).
President Vladimir Putin is seen as a major contributor to the anti-corruption push with his efficacy rating rising to 31 percent today, up from 12 percent eight years ago. Law enforcement agencies saw their assessment rise to 17 percent today, up from 12 percent, and the National Anti-Corruption Committee was at 9 percent, up from 3 percent.
The media is seen as making a major contribution to anti-corruption efforts, with its rating rising to 21 percent from 4 percent.
The poll surveyed 1,600 adults nationwide on November 24 and 25.
VTsIOM’s June poll showed 19 percent of respondents believed high corruption was preventing Russia from achieving prosperity, while 14 percent blamed the leadership for the country’s subpar performance.
In the latest series of corruption exposes, companies controlled by the Russian Defense Ministry were alleged to have embezzled a total of more 10 billion rubles ($257 million) this year. The sum included 6.7 billion rubles ($215 million) suspected to have been stolen via a corruption scheme that cost Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov his job.
This past May, Dmitry Medvedev admitted before standing down in favor of Vladimir Putin that his much trumpeted campaign against graft had seen “almost no” success whatsoever.
Russia was tied with Nigeria for 143rd place out of 182 nations in Transparency International’s 2011 global corruption index.