Corruption in Russia up by 30 percent

Moscow: The number of corruption-related crimes in Russia has risen by almost one-third during the first six months of 2012, year-on-year, according to Investigative Committee (IC) spokesperson Vladimir Markin.[caption id="attachment_471926" align="alignleft" width="380"] Russian President Vladimir Putin.[/caption]"During the first half of 2012, IC investigators handled 15,800 cases on corruption-related crimes, which is more than 5,000 than in the same period last year (10,400)," Markin said, citing Committee head Alexander Bastrykin.Markin attributed this rise to a higher crime clearance rate, noting that the proportion of unsolved corruption crimes was significantly lower than that in other kinds of crime.Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Russia 143rd (out of 182) in its 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).IANS