Corruption scale in southern Russia upsets Putin’s envoy to the region

09.12.2004 Editor

Speaking at the meeting of the regional governments’ officials in Rostov-on-Don Wednesday President Putin’s envoy to the South Federal District Dmitry Kozak said he was deeply concerned about the corruption that had overwhelmed the region’s governmental offices.

Official statistics on the number of corruption cases in the region was just perfect but local people might say, that the crime “is flourishing as well in governmental offices as in law enforcement agencies”, Mr. Kozak was quoted as saying.

Sergey Viazalov, deputy envoy to the region, managing social and economical issues, commented on huge new outlays for the local bureaucrats. Since 2000 the salary of the officials, according to Mr. Viazalov, has multiplied as much as 10 billion rubles ($370 million). “In Ingushetia, for example, twelve percent of the budget are spent annually for the officials’ salary, in Kalmykia – 10 percents, while incomes of the population here have not changed,” Mr. Viazalov was quoted as saying.

ITAR-TASS

Editor

The “Free Eurasia” project is an independent media platform based in Prague, with an ambitious mission to provide the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus with high-quality, objective and timely information in their national languages. We unite the expertise of editors and journalists working in Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Circassian, Avar and Russian to break the monopoly of state-run Russian-language media and amplify the voices of local communities. Direction Our work focuses on comprehensive coverage of social, political, economic and cultural developments in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the issues facing diasporas in Russia, Turkey, China and other countries. We produce news, analytical articles, video reports, podcasts, interviews and journalistic investigations. Special attention is paid to topics rarely addressed by state media: human rights violations, corruption, ethnic and cultural identity, migration and international relations. We strive to engage audiences of all ages, with a particular emphasis on young people and residents of remote regions, offering them digital content in their native languages. Goal Our main goal is to promote the development and sustainability of independent media in Central Asia and the Caucasus. We aim to strengthen the region’s informational sovereignty by expanding access to truthful sources and raising media literacy. At the same time, we support the development of national languages as key elements of identity and cultural heritage, encouraging public discussion and engagement. The project seeks to become a catalyst for building a strong civil society and defending democratic values, helping to train new professional journalists and fostering international cooperation.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply