Legal counteraction to corruption in Russia: history and current state

Formation and development of corruption in Russia has a long history. Thus, the first written mention of the promises of illegal remuneration paid for the governor for the implementation of official authority relates to the late 14th century. In the 15th century, officials carried out their direct duties only for a gift. The first law on the punishment of judges for bribery is found in the Sudebnik [Code of Law] of 1497. The Sudebnik of 1550 considered bribery in more detail. The Sobornoye Ulozhenie [Cathedral Code] of 1649, Peter I's Decree "On Banning Bribes and Promises" of 1708, The Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishments of 1845, The Criminal Law of 1903 contained provisions criminalizing specific forms of corruption. The establishment of the Soviet did not eliminate the problem of corruption. It is natural that two of the first decrees of the new government were the Decree "On Bribery" (May 8, 1918) and the Decree "On Bribery Prevention". The Criminal Codes of the RSFSR in 1922, 1926 and 1960 provided for the responsibility for certain types of corruption: for giving and receiving bribes, abuse of authority and official position, etc. The recent research literature over the last twenty years gives various definitions of corruption. The author emphasises that in terms of crime composition, corruption was initially viewed only as bribery of one person by another, i.e., it was only about bribery in all its forms and varieties. The author underlines that corruption includes not only receiving a bribe, but also other officials' crimes: abuse of office, forgery, etc. With the adoption of Federal Law No. 273-FZ "On Combating Corruption" of December 25, 2008, this notion has been first enshrined in the Russian legislation. However, what do we find here? The fact that is defined as "corruption" is related to particular deeds where it appears. All these deeds come to the following: an unlawful use of an official status by a person despite the legal interests of the society and the state to get benefit for this person or others. In this article, the author analyses this statement and notes that, firstly, the anti-corruption law does not give an unambiguous definition of the notion "corruption" or the area of matter of facts as a basic object of special impact. Secondly, the existing criminal law has no notion "corruption". The author notes that prevention of corruption only by means of criminal law is possible, but the effectiveness of these actions is insignificant. To prevent corruption it is necessary to use norms of other branches of law: administrative law, civil law, labor law, customs law and others.

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