Anti-corruption policy improvement in Russia within International Law standards implementation

The article discusses the issue of political corruption, important and relevant for modern Russia. The significance of the topic is provoked by the necessity to undertake complex measures to fight corruption as a negative attribute of contemporary Russia. One of the measures constitutes promotion of international cooperation on issues related to anti-corruption policies. An important part of such cooperation is development of international anticorruption legal basis. Following the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (adopted by the UN General Assembly on October 31, 2003 by Resolution 58/4) and the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of the Council of Europe (adopted on January 27, 1999 in Strasbourg, France) by Russia, the problem of bringing national legal system in consistence with the international standards has emerged. The article provides a comparative analysis of Russian legal system in relation to international law and analyses certain issues concerning implementation of the norms of the conventions in Russian legislation. In particular, the article notes that, conforming to the international conventions, Russia has made several changes to the national legal system, including the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, Russian criminal legislation contains norms that contradict international legal agreements. The analysis of those norms has revealed the following inconsistencies. The conceptual interpretation of the subject of bribery in Russianlegislature and international legal conventions differ. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the subject of bribery constitutes money, securities and other assets or asset-related benefits. However, following international legal conventions, the subject of bribery in the private and public sectors includes any unfair advantage, including advantage not related to the possession of assets. Bribery from the perspective of international conventions has a broader definition compared to the Criminal Code of Russia. By bribery the United Nations Convention against Corruption means not only acts of giving-accepting a bribe, but also making a promise or undertaking to induce or influence the action and accepting a promise or a proposition of passive bribery. The same applies to bribery in the private sector. The article discusses challenging matters related to these issues. Russian criminal legislation, unlike international conventions, does not allow a possibility of bringing legal entities to justice. The article emphasizes the importance and complexity of implementing major norms and procedures of international legal conventions in Russian legislation, considering this to be a necessary step for anti-corruption policy refinement in Russia

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