Drawing a portrait of the average corrupt Russian

Researchers from the Academy of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation have produced a portrait of the average bribe recipient, as well as of the average bribe giver. In both cases, the person is a man between the age of 35-55, who has a higher education, and holds a mid-level administrative position in a company or a municipal or regional government body.

First-time offenders

When taking a bribe, dishonest officials make the maximum effort to protect themselves. They get their subordinates involved in the activity, giving them certain instructions, according to the researchers.

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Often those caught taking bribes are first-time offenders who, before the criminal, administrative or disciplinary charges were filed against them, were respected by their superiors.

The researchers found that bribe givers are usually directors of commercial organizations, although occasionally bribe givers are people who are not employees of the company in whose interests they give the kickback or bribe.

"These individuals are often associated with the management of the supplier organization and act according to its instructions," read the press release from the Academy announcing the research.

Bribe givers skew younger than bribe takers

"More often than with the bribe recipients, among the bribe givers there are people under the age of 35. Just like the bribe recipients, those who give the kickback generally have a higher education," adds the press release.

The research also showed that individual entrepreneurs are rarely among the bribe givers, and that kickbacks are given mostly by directors or founders of commercial organizations and rarely employees or representatives of such organizations.

Bribe giving in numbers

The great majority of bribe givers and recipients are Russian citizens.

Out of all those prosecuted for this crime in 2015, only 4.6 percent were foreigners.

According to Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, in 2015 the average bribe in Russia was 212,000 rubles ($3,400) whereas in 2014 it was "only" 193,000 rubles ($3,100).

First published in Russian by Gazeta.ru.

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