Seven generals, over 260 officers convicted in 2010

DATELINE: MOSCOW July 27

Seven generals and more than 260 officers were convicted of various crimes in the first half of 2010, Russia’s Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said.

“The rate of misappropriations, embezzlement and abuse of power has increased. Two hundred and seventy officers were convicted for such crimes, including seven generals,” Fridinsky said at a meeting of senior officials of the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday.

Fridinsky also spoke about measures to combat corruption.

“Corruption cases increased by almost 26% in the first six months of 2010,” the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

Source: Interfax-AVN

So while overall crime in the ranks appears to be down the number of corruption cases is actually through the roof this year. This seems to be in line with other reports showing that throughout Russian society Medvedev’s reforms seemingly have triggered an increase in bribe taking. To quote The Moscow Times piece:

The average bribe has nearly doubled from 23,000 rubles ($760) last year to 40,000 rubles ($1,320) in the first six months of 2010, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

Bribes have become more expensive because those engaged in the widespread practice are rejecting small bribes as too risky amid a Kremlin-led fight against corruption, the ministry said.

“The authorities are fighting corruption, and bribery has become more dangerous,” said Albert Istomin, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry’s department for fighting economic crimes, which released the new bribe figures.

“Therefore, people are not ready to take the risk for a small sum,” he said by telephone.

The army mirrors the society it serves so this is to be expected as officials become more desperate to cash-in one more time in the face of coming reforms.