Amandine Gimeno

Corruption in Russia: a Major Challenge
Public Ethics

Introduction
With the example of Rasputin with the Tsar's family and the influence it has had on this family, we note that the influences between the public (at the time the Tsar) and private sector has always existed in Russia.
Rasputin was a wandering mystic who was presented to the Tsarina Alexandra in 1905. During this presentation, Rasputin relieved of his hands the young Tsarevich Alexis suffering from hemophilia. Following this event, Rasputin went indispensable and had a growing influence on the Tsar's family. The couple invited him to many social gatherings and introduced him to a lot of influential people. In 1907, after having "saved" Alexis, Rasputin was given its permanent entries to the palace. In 1909, during the Balkan case, Rasputin used his influence to extend the conflict.
Here we see the blatant example of private sector influence on the public sector in Russia. This is not something missing in the country today, quite the contrary. More recently, we can see a history of corruption with the case involving state with Boris Yeltsin and his daughter.
At the economic level, Russia is the first country in the world in terms of area with over 17 million square kilometers and should be one of the most important countries in global economic landscape. Yet, she isn’t in the top 10 leading countries of the world economy (16th) ,. In fact, even if Russia is an important player in world politics, the importance of perceived corruption in the country slowed markedly investment.
Today, Central and Eastern Europe is booming. We see a rapid evolution of these countries, both economically and politically. If Russia is, at present, still the richest and most “evolved” country in CEE, the rapid development of its neighbors may suggest that the situation could change if Russia doesn’t act.
Indeed, corruption of public institutions, bureaucracy and laws that are often interpreted in a