"Vedomosti": "Putin and Zhirinovsky Are Interesting"
People are not interested to know what Government officials state in their income declarations, but they approve the idea of public disclosure.
Half of Russian citizens approve of the disclosure of data on the incomes of Government officials and their families. Almost a third of the respondents (31%) polled by VTsIOM think it is "an excellent and long overdue anti-corruption measure", with another 18% believing it is a step in the right direction, though more effective measures are needed, 26% approving the decision but thinking that the officials will manage to dodge it and only 15% describing it as useless populism. The poll of 1,600 people in 140 communities was conducted on April 4-5 after most Government ministers and members of the President's staff published their income and property declarations. 33% of the pollees know about the President's directive to publish declarations and 43% have heard about it. The poll has revealed a positive reaction to the anti-corruption crusade declared by President Dmitry Medvedev, says VTsIOM president Valery Fyodorov.
At the same time 52% of respondents are not interested in other people's incomes and only 8% would like to look at the declaration of the incomes of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin while 7% would like to look at the declaration of LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Only 1% of respondents would like to know the income of Mr Medvedev (and businessman Roman Abramovich). Putin and Zhirinovsky are two politicians with the highest public profile, Mr Fyodorov explains. 59% of the respondents didn't know what could be a more effective way to combat corruption. 11% think bribe-takers should be punished more severely, 8% are in favour of tougher control, 6% want all to be equal before the law, and 3% think people should stop giving bribes. 2% favour the use of Stalinist methods to deal with corrupt officials, not stopping short of executions.
That the majority of respondents approve of the practice of disclosure of incomes by civil servants is a good result, but people are not told how the declared incomes were earned and probably do not have a clear idea of the implications of the new procedure for the bureaucrats, says Pavel Kudyukin, an associate professor at the Higher School of Economics.
Declarations are only the first step, they meet public curiosity but do not clarify the sources and legality of the declared incomes, says Vladimir Yuzhakov of the Strategic Development Centre. What interests citizens most of all is precisely the legality of incomes; so far there is no procedure for establishing it, the expert says.
By Alexei Nikolsky
