Taking On Russia's Ubiquitous Bribery

As recently as 2006, Russia ratified the U.N. Convention Against Corruption but excused itself from a key provision on "illicit enrichment." The article requires countries to make it a criminal offense when there is a "significant increase in the assets of a public official that he or she cannot reasonably explain in relation to his or her lawful income."

Bribery enriches Russian bureaucrats and other officials to the tune of $120 billion annually, a senior Russian investigator said. "The revenues of our bureaucrats from corrupt activity, according to experts, account for one-third of our national budget," Vasily Piskaryov, a senior official at the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office, said last month.

Other groups believe the scale is even bigger. The Indem Foundation, a Russian grass-roots organization, estimates that Russians pay $319 billion annually in bribes. "It is always with us, in every part of our lives," said Georgy Satarov, head of Indem and a former adviser to the late president Boris Yeltsin.

And everything has a price, according to Russians who were willing to discuss bribes they had personally paid, on the condition that they not be fully identified.

Yulia, a new mother, said she slipped her doctor in Moscow $1,500 to ensure the best care when she was pregnant, even though she has state medical insurance. She said the doctor wouldn't see her without the cash up front.

Nina, a grandmother in Penza, a city about 400 miles southeast of Moscow, said that she paid $150 to a local bureaucrat to get her daughter's child into a state kindergarten, which is ostensibly free.

Sasha, a recent university graduate, said he paid $3,000 this year to avoid military service. The money was passed by a mutual friend to the head of a recruitment office, and Sasha got a medical exemption in return.

Oksana, who recently purchased an apartment in Moscow, said she paid $4,000 to obtain the documents proving she owns her property. Moscow city officials at first demanded $10,000.

"What choice do you have?" Oksana said. "You can fight them, but it will take forever, and they can make things very bad for you."

Yuri, who runs a small business, said he paid $1,200 to continue on his way after he was stopped while driving under the influence of alcohol in Moscow this year. The traffic police are among the most notorious bribe-takers in the country. Yuri said he phoned a friend, who brought the cash to the location where he was stopped.

"There is a very easy and light-hearted attitude to corruption in our country," said Panfilova of Transparency International. "But I keep trying to stress that corruption kills. Do you really want to take your children to see the doctor who bought his diploma? What about the drunk driver who pays, and then kills someone down the street?"

Another small-businessman, a glass company owner who wouldn't allow even his first name to be used, said he pays about $900 a month to various inspectors and police. If he refused, he said, they would paralyze his business with alleged fire, health, labor, tax or sanitary violations.